Best arrangements made for peaceful conduct of elections: PM Kakar

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister (PM) Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Tuesday said that despite numerous challenges, the best possible arrangements had been made to ensure peaceful and seamless conduct of general elections 2024 across the country.

He was talking to a delegation of the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG), led by former President of Nigeria Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who called on him, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.

The meeting was part of the COG’s interaction with various stakeholders ahead of the upcoming general elections on February 8, 2024.

The caretaker prime minister welcomed the COG delegation and said that Pakistan was proud to honour its commitment as a Commonwealth member state by inviting independent international observers to witness the general elections.

PM Kakar also highlighted that the caretaker government had fulfilled its responsibilities to run the day-to-day affairs of the state and create a conducive environment ahead of the elections.

Now it was the turn of the people of Pakistan to exercise their democratic right to vote, he added.

Goodluck Ebele Jonathan thanked the caretaker prime minister and conveyed best wishes of the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Patricia Scotland. He said the COG delegation would be visiting various polling sites throughout the country to observe the election process.

All is set for holding general elections in Pakistan, scheduled for February 8, 2024, with over 128 million male and female voters expected to exercise their voting rights.

According to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 5,121 candidates are in the race for the National Assembly seats, of which 4,807 are males and 312 females. Two transgenders are also contesting the polls.

For the four provincial assemblies of Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Balochistan, a total of 12,695 candidates are contesting for the polls, out of which 12,123 are males and 570 are women.

There are a total of 128,585,760 registered voters in the country, out of which Punjab has the most, 73, 207,896. Sindh comes second with 26,994,769 registered voters while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa third with 21,928,119 voters. Balochistan has 5,371,947 registered voters while Pakistan’s capital Islamabad has 1,083,029 voters.