Regulator says no date decided yet to release Pakistan’s election schedule amid delay fears

Security personnel stand guard at the headquarters of Election Commission of Pakistan in Islamabad on September 21, 2023. (AFP/File)

• Local media reports claimed Pakistani regulator would release election schedule on Sunday
• Elections in Pakistan are due to be held on Feb. 8 but political analysts fear they may be delayed further

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election regulator said on Thursday it had not decided on a date yet to release the schedule for upcoming polls, amid widespread fears that elections in the country would be delayed once again.
Elections in Pakistan were originally expected to take place in November after the country’s national and two provincial assemblies were dissolved in August before reaching the end of their tenure. However, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided to redraw hundreds of national and provincial constituencies based on a digital census carried out in April, before arranging the electoral contest.
Given Pakistan’s uncertain political environment and precarious security situation, local media outlets have continued to speculate about the possibility of elections being delayed beyond Feb. 8. The government has repeatedly said it would not delay polls beyond Feb. 8.
A report in the Pakistani newspaper The News claimed the ECP would announce the much-awaited schedule on Sunday, Dec. 17. The report further said the regulator would start receiving nomination papers from candidates from Dec. 18.
“No specific date has been determined for the announcement of the election schedule,” ECP’s Public Relations Officer Durriya Amir told Arab News. “The Election Commission retains the authority to issue it at any given day or time.”
Separately, ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan told Arab News the media reports were “not true.”
Political analysts have said polls would bring some stability to Pakistan, following more than a year of political turmoil in the country after former prime minister Imran Khan’s ouster from office in April 2022.
Khan, who has been in jail since August after his conviction in a case involving the sale of state gifts, is facing a string of legal charges. The cricketer-turned-politician denies all charges, saying they are politically motivated to keep him and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party away from polls.
He has accused Pakistan’s powerful military, with whom he had a falling out toward the later part of his tenure, of having a hand in his ouster and cracking down on his supporters. The military has repeatedly denied Khan’s allegations.