When will elections be held?

Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman has said that the economic situation must be considered before going to the polls

By Umar Cheema
June 07, 2023
Men line up as election officials check their ballot papers during voting in general election at a polling station in Lahore on July 25, 2018. — AFP

ISLAMABAD: While the ruling coalition continues to give conflicting signals regarding the time of the general elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan is determined to keep its promise of holding them in October this year. But this can happen only if any technical hurdle is not created by the federal government, which could use the constitution of Pakistan to justify such action. PDM President Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman has said that the economic situation must be considered before going to the polls, a statement that is being interpreted as a plan to extend the current government’s term for another year under the guise of an economic emergency. Fazl however added that any decision to this effect will be arrived at by the ruling coalition via a consensus. The ECP on its part has committed to conduct general elections on October 8. It did this while postponing the Punjab Assembly elections on the basis of reports by law-enforcement agencies and the Pakistan Army regarding the law-and-order situation, the engagement of troops in ongoing operations, and the current political polarization. According to an ECP official, “The ECP was assured by the government that in 4-5 months, troops will be done with these commitments and will be able to help hold fair and free elections”. The ECP official said the electoral body will make every effort to exercise its power to keep this commitment. In case the government doesn’t cooperate, the ECP will invoke Article 220 of the constitution which says: “It shall be the duty of all executive authorities in the Federation and in the Provinces to assist the Commissioner and the Election Commission in the discharge of his or their functions”. When asked what happens if the government doesn’t cooperate even after the invocation of the article, the ECP official said he didn’t have an answer to that, especially when even court orders have been disobeyed.

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There can be other factors too that hold up the elections. According to a government official, a delay in the digital census could lead to a delay in elections. The digital census is not completed yet and different components of the ruling coalition -- especially the MQM and the PPP -- have raised objections to the integrity of the ongoing census. If and when the census is officially notified, there is also a constitutional requirement of fresh delimitation before holding the general elections. This issue had also cropped up when the Supreme Court had taken suo-motu notice on former deputy speaker Qasim Suri’s controversial ruling which had stalled the vote of no-confidence against former prime minister Imran Khan. The SC had asked the ECP whether it could hold elections if ordered by the court. The ECP had refused on the grounds that it couldn’t conduct the delimitation under the 2017 census because of the non-cooperative attitude of the PTI government to which it had written several letters in a span of one year preceding the no-confidence vote. The SC had agreed with the ECP’s argument.

Incidentally, the idea of a digital census was floated and approved by the PTI government though work on it couldn’t be started even by the present government until a few months ago. When the government notifies the digital census -- either this month or the next -- it will take another six months to carry out the delimitation exercise. If the census is notified days before the completion of the term of the National Assembly on August 13, the ECP will not be able to conduct elections this year. If the government lets the term expire at the given time, the ECP is bound to hold elections in 60 days. However, if the National Assembly is dissolved a few days before the completion of its duration, it can get an extra month -- since in that scenario, elections are to be held in 90 days which would mean they will be held in November this year.

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