The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared on Thursday that general elections would be held in the last week of January 2024,
The ECP stated in a statement that it reviewed work on constituency delimitation and concluded that the initial list for constituency delimitation would be published on September 27.
“The final delimitation list will be published on November 30,” ECP stated, adding that elections will take place in the last week of January 2024, in accordance with the 54-day election schedule.
The electoral commission was under intense pressure from political parties to publish the election date.
The announcement comes a day after the ECP announced a meeting with political parties next month to discuss the general election code of conduct.
According to the ECP spokeswoman, a draft of the code of conduct was supplied to political party leaders ahead of time, allowing them to provide more effective comments during the consultation.
President Arif Alvi had previously written to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, stressing that elections should be held by November 6.
President Arif Alvi noted in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner that the National Assembly was dissolved on the Prime Minister’s advice on August 9, 2023, and that 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),” implying that elections should be held by the eighty-ninth day of the date of dissolution of Assembly, i.e. Monday, November 06, 2023.
It is worth noting that the National Assembly was dissolved at the suggestion of then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on August 9.
