General election to be held in last week of January 2024

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that that general election will be held in the final week of January 2024.

The electoral body said the initial list of delimitations, which are being carried out in line with the new census, will be published on September 27.

The ECP said the final list of constituencies will be published on November 30 after hearing the objections and suggestions related to the delimitations.

Subsequently, the polls will be held in the last week of January 2024 following the completion of the 54-day election schedule, the ECP statement added.

Background

President Arif Alvi approved the summary for dissolving the National Assembly (NA) at midnight on August 9, at the then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s advice.

Soon after the Council of Common Interests (CCI) ratified the 2023 census, making it mandatory to conduct fresh delimitations. The responsibility for conducting the polls shifted to the ECP.

Consequently, ECP ruled out the possibility of general elections taking place in calendar year 2022. The electoral body sought six months for completing delimitations and issuing date for the general elections. Back then, ECP announced to release the final publication of delimitation on December 14, 2023.

President Arif Alvi invited the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja for a meeting to discuss the proposed date for elections. However, since the modification to the Elections Act 2017 has granted the ECP the authority to independently declare election dates without the necessity of presidential consultation, the CEC conveyed to the president that participating in a meeting to determine the election date would hold little significance.

In response, the president sought counsel from the Ministry of Law on this issue, and the ministry affirmed that the responsibility for announcing the election date indeed lies within the purview of the ECP.

On September 13, in a letter to the CEC, President Alvi proposed November 6 as election date.

Consultations

The ECP held separate consultations with all major political parties to ponder over the elections schedule. Political parties exhibited diverse stances regarding the timing of elections. While some emphasized the necessity of conducting fresh delimitation before scheduling elections, others, notably the PTI and PPP, advocated for adhering to the constitutional time frame for holding polls.

Way forward

Yesterday, the ECP said that it is set to convene a meeting with various political parties next month. The primary agenda of this gathering is to deliberate upon the code of conduct for the upcoming general elections.

The ECP made this announcement through an official statement, citing Section 233 of the Elections Act 2017 as the basis for the meeting. The scheduled session is slated to take place on October 4 at 2 pm, at the ECP Secretariat located in Islamabad.

The ECP has already shared a draft of the Code of Conduct with political party leaders, inviting them to provide their feedback during the forthcoming consultation.