An interim authorities has ruled the South Asian nation since parliament was dissolved on August 9.
Pakistan will maintain postponed nationwide elections in February because the nation grapples with overlapping political, financial and safety crises.
“It was unanimously determined that the elections will happen on Thursday, February 8,” the Election Fee of Pakistan (ECP) stated in a press release on Thursday after its members met President Arif Alvi.
An interim authorities has ruled the South Asian nation since parliament was dissolved on August 9.
The polls would have taken place inside 90 days of the dissolution of Parliament, however the ECP stated it wanted time to redraw constituency boundaries after the final census.
It’s constitutionally mandated that elections can solely be held after constituencies have been redrawn primarily based on the newest inhabitants figures, a course of that may take no less than 4 months, the ECP stated earlier.
The transitional authorities, led by Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, additionally has a mandate: to ensure clear elections.
Nonetheless, because the nation’s principal opposition get together, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and its chief, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, have confronted months of nationwide crackdown, considerations have been raised over whether or not the transitional authorities and the ECP are capable of maintain honest elections.
Khan and his authorities had been ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April final yr. The 70-year-old, who had campaigned throughout the nation for early elections after his elimination, was jailed on August 5 on corruption expenses.
A court docket later suspended his three-year sentence, however Khan remained in jail on expenses associated to the “cypher case,” through which he’s accused of creating public the contents of a diplomatic cable for political acquire.
The political uncertainty in Pakistan comes at a time of financial instability. The nation was hit by a steadiness of funds disaster because it tried to repay excessive overseas money owed and address crushing inflation earlier than the Worldwide Financial Fund awarded a $3 billion rescue bundle in June.
The earlier coalition authorities took unpopular steps corresponding to ending gas subsidies and steadily elevating gas and power tariffs, which led to record-breaking inflation within the nation, sparking nationwide protests.
There are additionally rising safety considerations because the nation’s northwestern and southwestern provinces come underneath common assaults by the Pakistani Taliban, who’ve reemerged this yr.
