With everybody and their aunt pressing for an early general election, the ECP has demonstrated its good faith by expediting the delimitation exercise by two weeks.
By Muhammad Ali
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said Friday it is geared to finalise the delimitation of electoral constituencies by November 30, 2023 instead of December 14 as announced earlier.
The decision was made with a view to bringing forward the general election schedule as much as possible, the ECP said in a statement.
The ECP announcement comes after multiple rounds of consultations with the political parties, most of whom are pressing for an early election. The citizenry is also feeling the urgency of holding the general election amid worsening economic conditions.
The announcement comes a day after the Commission assured a delegation of the Awami National Party (ANP) it was on track to hold the general election by mid-February 2024. Taking two weeks away from that timeline means the Commission is now poised to hold elections by the end of January 2024 at the latest.
The caretaker setup headed by PM Anwar Ul Haq Kakar rose to power after former Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, 2023, three days shy of its full term.
The Constitution calls for a general election to be held within 90 days of the premature dissolution of the National Assembly. However, days before dissolving the assembly, Sharif’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition government endorsed the results of 7th national housing and population census, necessitating fresh delimitation of electoral constituencies before the polls.
The Sharif government also undertook legislation ahead of its exit to strengthen the hand of the caretaker government vis-a-vis economic management and accountability, betraying an implicit understanding to push back the election by about three months.
The idea behind this arrangement was to allow the court cases against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his cronies to mature before the election is held. Understandably, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is keen on an election within 90 days, and President Arif Alvi is pushing that agenda using the presidential bully pulpit.
Another influential voice likely to weigh in on the side of PTI is Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umran Atta Bandial, a known Khanista. Several other smaller parties have also joined in the chorus for an early election just to enhance their nuisance value.
The pressure for election within 90 days mounted further when the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) – which was on board with the idea of pushing the general election back by a few months – joined the bandwagon.
Meanwhile, Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and its PDM allies including the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) are indicating their support for the more deliberate road to the general election, initially indicated by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) when it announced its original schedule for redrawing electoral constituencies.
By expediting its delimitation schedule, the ECP has signalled its responsiveness to the voices pushing for an early election, at the same time making it clear that polls within 90 days are an impossibility because of the constitutional mandate for fresh delimitation of electoral constituencies.
The ECP move is likely to be welcomed by and large because the citizenry is convinced the caretaker government is no match for the economic challenges facing the country at this juncture.
The Kakar cabinet has so far failed to come up with any clear economic roadmap, instead resorting to a patchwork of moves aimed at window dressing. All stakeholders seem sold on the need to quickly hold the election and hand over power to an elected government that can undertake the much-needed structural reform to put the economy on an even keel.
For instance the power sector has proved a hard nut to crack for the caretaker dispensation. Observers say there is some fiscal space to provide relief to despondent power consumers but the caretaker government, being unelected, lacks the stature to effectively take the matter up with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
PM Kakar is expected to announce a relief package for grief stricken power consumers soon, but it will be limited up to users of 400 units.
Meanwhile, the caretaker Minister for Finance Dr Shamshad Akhtar and Advisor to PM on Finance Dr Waqar Masood Khan were still struggling to settle their interpersonal differences. Officials say kicking Khan upstairs (to the PM Secretariat) looks like the only option, effectively evicting him from the Finance Division.
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Now the dream of having the two stalwarts work as a tandem team has turned sour, the next step would be to arrive at a division of labour. However, it is far from clear what if any role Khan will be assigned under such a scheme.
Meanwhile, the PTI has approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan with a petition seeking a directive to the executive to hold the election within 90 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly – although the legal basis of a directive is far from clear.
Against this backdrop, the ECP has indicated its eagerness to approach the job at hand with all possible speed, starting with fresh delimitation of electoral constituencies.
On Friday, the ECP kicked off a two-day training for 26 members of the Boundary Delimitation Committees at Pakistan Electoral Academy for Democratic Practices, Research, and Management (PADRM) at ECP, Secretariat, Islamabad.
Due to conclude on September 2, 2023, the workshop will train the participants the legal framework for delimitation of the constituencies alongwith the international standards of delimitation and principles of delimitation .
The results of 7th Population and Housing Census, unanimously approved by Council of Common Interest (CCI) in its 50th meeting headed by PM Sharif August 5, 2023, have been communicated to the ECP. Census data is important for delimitation of boundaries for conduct of general elections in the country.
On August 28, 2023, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) provided ECP all the requisite data in this connection – including the gazette notification of census charges, circles and blocks, colour prints of digitised maps of 1,85,514 blocks, circles and charges and census block wise data, etc.
The handing over of data took place at a meeting held chaired by Chief Census Commissioner Dr Naeem uz Zafar in chair at the PBS office, which was attended by senior management from both organisations.
In the final analysis, all seems set for the general election to take place within the month of January 2024.
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