Election schedule likely to be announced in December

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is likely to announce the schedule of general elections in the first week of December 2023, ARY News reported citing sources.

According to sources within Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the election date will also be announced with the schedule for upcoming polls.

Sources further said that elections will be held in the center and all four provinces on the same date, however only the ECP has the authority to announce the election date.

Earlier, President Arif Alvi suggested November 6, 2023, as the date for general elections in Pakistan in a letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner.

Read more: President Arif Alvi suggests election date in letter to CEC

President Arif Alvi noted that the National Assembly was dissolved on Prime Minister’s advice on August 9, 2023, and the Constitution of Pakistan empowers the president to announce a date for general election “not later than ninety days from the date of the dissolution (of assembly)” so election should be held by the eighty-ninth day of the date of dissolution of Assembly i.e. Monday, November 06, 2023.

The announcement can be termed the culmination of the months-long debate over whether the President or the ECP has the right to announce the date of polls.

It is pertinent to mention here that, the Ministry of Law had also conveyed to President Arif Alvi that he has no role in the announcement of date for polls “following the amendment in Elections Act.

The law ministry had forwarded its response to President Arif Alvi’s letter, seeking opinion on ECP’s stance that “only it had the authority to decide the election date”.