ISLAMABAD: Stressing the need for free, fair, and credible elections in Pakistan, President Arif Alvi on Wednesday said he does not believe polls would be held in the country in January 2024.
Pakistan’s election regulator announced in September it would conduct general elections across the country during the last week of January next year. Political experts and analysts, however, have expressed fears polls would be delayed further due to Pakistan’s precarious economic situation and political turmoil.
A caretaker government has been ruling Pakistan since parliament was dissolved on August 9, days after former prime minister Imran Khan was imprisoned for graft and barred from contesting elections. Polls were supposed to have taken place within 90 days, but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said it needed more time to redraw constituencies following the latest population census.
During an interview with Geo News, when asked whether he believed polls would be held in the last week of January, Alvi responded:
“No, I do not believe [polls would be held in the last week of January] but since the supreme judiciary has taken the matter under its notice, I think it would give a very reasonable verdict.”
Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has repeatedly assured political stakeholders that a “level-playing field” would be provided to all parties and their contestants in the upcoming elections.
Alvi noted that almost all political stakeholders in the country were demanding a level-playing field for elections.
“I believe that for the future of this country, it is necessary to engage with the masses on their feelings,” Alvi said. “They should be ensured that elections would be fair and credible in which everyone would be allowed to participate.”
The Pakistani president called on political stakeholders in the country to forgive one another and move forward for the sake of the country.
“It is time to unite the country. Forgiveness makes nations,” Alvi said. “And if there are no feelings of forgiveness, one can’t even unite a family or a brother with his sister.”
Khan, who is also the chairman of Alvi’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, has been in jail since August 5 after he was convicted in a case involving the sale of state gifts. On Monday, he was formally charged with leaking the contents of a secret document.
Khan says the slew of cases registered against him after his ouster from office since April 2022 are all based on “politically motivated” charges.
Alvi said he had always found Khan “financially honest,” adding that very few people would accuse him of corruption.
“I’ve found the PTI chairman to be honest in [his] financial dealings and he is a patriotic Pakistani,” he said.
