Elections will almost certainly be postponed as a result of the Pakistan Election Commission‘s announcement that it will redraw the boundaries for hundreds of constituencies prior to the 2023 elections.
The electoral oversight organization announced on Thursday that new constituencies would be finalized by December 14, according to state media PTV.
After the revised boundaries have been established, the EC stated it will determine a date for the election.
Elections To Be Held In The Light of Constitution
In accordance with Pakistan’s constitution, elections must be held within 60 days following the dissolution of the national and provincial parliament after they have served out their full terms, or within 90 days if the dissolution occurs earlier.
Elections should take place at the latest in November because the former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet was dissolved on August 9 – a few days before it had finished its entire term.
Since then-Prime Minister Imran Khan’s defeat in a no-confidence vote in the house in April of last year, Pakistan has experienced political unrest.
The leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and former cricket star is currently in jail on misdeclaration of assets accusations, which he has deeply rejected.
The federal election was likely postponed after the former Sharif-led administration refused to hold polls in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when both assemblies were dissolved earlier this year, in defiance of a ruling from the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
To compel a quick general election, the PTI party disbanded the two assemblies where they held power in January.
New Caretaker Government Oath Ceremony
In a separate ceremony on Thursday in Islamabad, Pakistan swore in a caretaker government led by interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar.
The $350 billion economy is on a shaky recovery path after the caretaker administration reached a $3 billion rescue agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avoid a sovereign debt default, according to the caretaker government, whose top objective is economic stabilization.
However, the economic reforms that have been put in place thus far have resulted in historically high inflation and interest rates.
After President Arif Alvi dissolved parliament last week on the recommendation of outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Kakar was inaugurated in as acting president on Monday.
The new cabinet was chosen by Anwaar ul Haq Kakar on Thursday, and president Arif Alvi then swore it in.
According to the new information minister, Murtaza Solangi, the former head of the central bank, Shamshad Akhtar, has been chosen finance minister and Jalil Abbas Jilani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, has been named foreign minister.
Other names in the government were Mishaal Malik, the wife of imprisoned Kashmiri politician Yaseen Malik, as minister for human rights, and former provincial minister Sarfaraz Bugti as interior minister.
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