By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi on Wednesday suggested Nov. 6 as the date for general elections, sparking confusion and criticism amid a poll dispute that has cast doubts over when an elected government would take over the reins of the country.
The president also urged the election regulator to seek the superior judiciary’s guidance on finalizing a single date for polls for the national and provincial assemblies.
The president wrote a letter to the chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, proposing the date based on a constitutional provision that required him to appoint a date for the elections within 90 days of dissolving the National Assembly on Aug. 9.
But the letter, which was released by the president’s office, was seen as a mere suggestion, rather than a declaration of the election date, by analysts who said that the final decision rested with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The ECP is responsible for organizing and conducting free and fair elections, including the delimitation of constituencies based on the latest census data, which was published on Aug. 7.
The president acknowledged that all four provincial governments and the law ministry had expressed their opinion that the announcement of the election date was the ECP’s mandate and that there was a consensus that the elections for the national and provincial assemblies should be held on the same day.
The dispute stems from a constitutional amendment passed by the government of former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif in July, which gave ECP the sole authority to determine the date for elections. Previously, the constitution mandated the president to consult the election commission before setting a date for polls.
A delay in elections beyond the 90-day constitutional limit is also almost inevitable after Sharif’s government approved the results of a new population census days before it dissolved the assemblies and handed over power to a caretaker administration.
The ECP is now bound to redraw hundreds of provincial and federal constituencies on the basis of the latest census results, an exercise the commission says will be finalized by Dec. 14, effectively delaying elections beyond the 90-day limit.
The amendment was seen as a move by Sharif to delay the elections, as his party faced a strong challenge from former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in the make-or-break province of Punjab.
Alvi, who belongs to Khan’s party, has maintained that as per the constitution, the president must fix a date for polls within 90 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly.
“WHEREAS in terms of Article 48(5) the general election to the National Assembly should be held by the eighty-ninth day of the date of dissolution of the National Assembly, i.e. Monday, 6th Day of November 2023,” Alvi wrote in letter he penned to Raja.
“THEREFORE … the Election Commission of Pakistan in consultation with Provincial Governments and political parties under the relevant provisions of the Constitution and in view that some of these matters are already subjudice, may seek guidance from the Superior Judiciary for the announcement of a single date for general election to the National and Provincial Assemblies,” Alvi wrote.
The civil society activists and experts expressed their concern over the president’s letter, saying it was unnecessary and confusing.
Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, a research organization, said he was “surprised and worried” at why such a letter was written by a personality occupying the high office of the presidency.
“This letter conveys nothing except creating confusion in an already confused situation,” he said. “It would have been better if he had not written this letter at all.”
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