ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s main election oversight body has rejected “rumors” of a delay in general elections, and plans to release the final list of constituencies today, Thursday, state-media said.
The Election Commission of Pakistan announced earlier this month the vote, originally expected in November and then scheduled for the last week of January, would instead take place on Feb. 8, a date chosen following consultations with the country’s President Dr. Arif Alvi that were requested by the Supreme Court.
“Election Commission has decided to approach PEMRA against those spreading such false news [of election delay] so that legal action can be taken against those spreading such misleading news,” the ECP said in a statement, referring to the electronic media regulator.
“The news that election lists have not been prepared is completely false.”
Pakistan’s state news agency APP reported that the ECP would release “the final list of constituencies based on the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023 on Thursday, earlier than initially planned.”
“Objections concerning the new constituencies for the national and four provincial assemblies were deliberated and concluded on November 22,” APP reported.
Pakistan’s parliament was dissolved by the president on then Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s advice on Aug. 9, setting the stage for a national election amid political and economic crises. A caretaker administration subsequently took over with the constitutional mandate to hold new elections in 90 days.
However, as the outgoing Sharif government had approved the results of a new census in August, the election commission was constitutionally bound to redraw hundreds of new constituency boundaries based on the fresh population count, delaying the election by several months.
Meanwhile, there has been widespread speculation in Pakistan that elections may be delayed even beyond February. The opposition party led by former premier Imran Khan says there are plans to delay polls as Khan’s popularity, even from behind bars, grows.
Analysts have said any delay in the election could fuel public anger and add to uncertainty in the nuclear-armed nation.
The last general election in July 2018 was won by the party of the cricketer-turned-politician Khan, who was sworn in days later as prime minister for the first time.
Khan has been at the heart of political turmoil since he was ousted as prime minister in a no-confidence vote last year, raising concern about Pakistan’s stability. He has since been convicted and jailed in a graft case, following which he has been barred from taking part in any election for five years.
Khan has accused the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan intermittently since independence in 1947, of being responsible for his ouster. The military has denied the charge.
In addition to the legal issues that could crop up if the vote is delayed, the side-lining of Khan, the country’s most popular leader according to polls, will cast doubt over the credibility of the elections.
