Observers' participation in general elections conditioned with security clearance

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) conditioned the participation of foreign and national observers with security clearance, ARY News reported citing sources.

According to sources, the Election Commission of Pakistan approved the plan regarding the participation of observers in elections.

Sources revealed that the international observers will not be invited formally, they have to go through security clearance from the interior ministry for election monitoring.

The observers will submit applications in Pakistan missions and the interior ministry will give them security clearance within four weeks and will be allowed to stay in Pakistan for 90 days. The international observers can state the general elections.

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) started preparations for holding general elections in the country and initiated a compilation of returning officers’ (ROs) lists.

The ECP sent a letter to the provincial election commissioners to provide data on ROs, deputy returning officers (DROs) and assistant returning officers (AROs) by June 1. The commission will start training sessions for the polling staff after receiving lists from the provinces.

It is pertinent to mention here that the tenure of LG representatives expired on December 31 – 2021 in Punjab. The authorities completed new delimitations on February 12 – 2023 under Punjab Local Government (LG) Act.