ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election regulator has said that it is “not advisable” to delay the upcoming vote, after senators approved a controversial resolution calling for the general elections to be further postponed.
The country of more than 241 million people was originally due to hold elections in November, 90 days after the lower house of parliament was dissolved in August, but polls were delayed to February due to the fresh demarcation of constituencies under a new census.
In early January, members of Pakistan’s senate drew condemnation after they passed the non-binding resolution, citing bad weather, security challenges and a rise in COVID-19 cases as reasons to postpone the Feb. 8 vote by a few months.
The Election Commission of Pakistan, the body that conducts polls in the country, said in a letter to the senate secretariat that it has “submitted commitment” to the Supreme Court to hold the general elections on Feb. 8.
“ECP has made all necessary arrangements regarding (the) conduct of General Elections 2024 … Likewise, it would not be out of place to mention here that in the past General Elections and Local Government Elections have been held in winter season,” the letter, shared by interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi on Monday, reads.
“Sequel to the above narrated facts, it will not (be) advisable for the Commission to postpone General Elections-2024 at this stage.”
Pakistan is currently run by a caretaker government under interim Prime Minister Anwaar ul-Haq Kakar that is meant to oversee a general election.
While caretakers are usually limited to overseeing polls, Kakar’s set-up is the most empowered in Pakistan’s history after a recent legislation allowed it to make policy decisions on economic matters.
The legislation is aimed at keeping Pakistan on track to maintain conditions for a $3 billion International Monetary Fund bailout secured in June.
Security fears ahead of the polls were ignited last week when an independent election candidate and two other people were shot dead in Pakistan’s northwestern Waziristan district. The same day, a former minister with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party was critically wounded after gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in the southwestern Turbat district.
Political analysts fear that a prolonged period without an elected government would give the military, which has ruled Pakistan inconsecutively for more than three decades since the country’s 1947 independence and wields considerable influence even if not in power, to consolidate control.
