Pakistan polls to be held in last week of January, says Election Commission

Pakistan polls are set to take place next year in the last week of January, the Election Commission made an announcement on Thursday (September 21), as per Dawn reports.

The poll body released a statement stating that it had examined the apportionment of seats.

After reviewing the delimitation process' development, the ECP said that the preliminary list of constituencies will be published on September 27, 2023.

The final list of constituencies will be released on November 30 after complaints and comments regarding the preliminary lists have been heard, as per local media reports. The election will then be scheduled for a 54-day period.

Earlier in August, Pakistan President Arif Alvi invited Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja for a meeting to “fix an appropriate date” for general elections.

Pakistan's interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, during an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said that he understood the process of creating new constituencies by the Election Commission of Pakistan and public consultations on this would likely take another three or three and a half months.

"That's where we are looking for, and probably somewhere by the end of January, we're going to go and vote for the new government," he said.

Main contenders

The two main contenders to lead the next government in the country are, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of the last Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Three-time premier Nawaz Sharif is seeking a return from exile. However, a corruption conviction against him makes his brother Shehbaz a probable front-runner to return to power.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, is another key candidate in the race.

(With inputs from agencies)

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