General Elections Delayed for At Least 6 More Months in Pakistan

In a significant development that will have far-reaching implications for Pakistan’s political landscape, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the postponement of the upcoming elections. The commission said that holding elections within the constitutional timeframe of 90 days is not feasible.

One of the primary reasons behind this decision is the implementation of a new delimitation process following the release of results from the long-awaited digital census. The delimitation exercise aims to redefine constituencies in order to reflect the current demographic distribution of the population more accurately. This adjustment in constituency boundaries is supposedly aimed at ensuring fair representation and equal distribution of political power.

As a consequence of the ongoing delimitation process, the elections that were initially expected to take place within the next three months will be delayed. The Election Commission has officially announced that no elections will be held until at least December 14th. After this date, a new schedule for the elections, which will likely span another three months, will be unveiled.

The general elections were scheduled to be held in May of this year, however, the PDM government had delayed the elections. While the constitution mandates conducting elections within 90 days after a government has stepped aside, which happened earlier this month, the ECP has now confirmed that it will not be possible, a statement the electoral body has been giving since last year.

This delay is likely to lead to more political uncertainty and the nation will be eagerly awaiting the announcement of the new election timetable.

Source: Pro Pakistani