ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to propose dates for the next general elections, supposed to be held within 90 days following the dissolution of the National Assembly, his secretariat announced Wednesday.
“In a letter dated April 5, 2022, addressed to ECP, the President’s Secretariat asked to propose date(s) for holding general elections within 90 days from the date of dissolution of the National Assembly i.e., April 3, 2022, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan,” a statement shared on Twitter by the presidency said.
President’s Secretariat asked ECP to propose dates for general elections. pic.twitter.com/kgu1iyuts3
— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) April 6, 2022
The letter mentioned that ECP has been conveyed that clause 5-A of the Article 48 and clause 2 of Article 224 of the Constitution provide that the president shall appoint a date, no later than 90 days from the date of dissolution of the National Assembly, for holding general elections to the Lower House.
“In order to carry out the mandate of the Constitution of announcing the date of general elections, consultation with the Election Commission is required under Section 57(1) of the Elections Act, 2017,” the letter stated.
The president, after receiving advice from the prime minister, dissolved the assembly on April 3 so new elections can be held.
According to the Constitution, an interim government inclusive of the opposition will now see the country toward elections held within 90 days.
Imran Khan will remain prime minister, said Fawad Chaudhry, the former minister of information and law.
Whether the election commission has the capacity to organise a ballot within 90 days remains to be seen, with a watchdog group warning this week of “grave concerns” for potential violence.
“The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has identified multiple constitutional, legal and operational challenges to the conduct of an early election,” said the group.
“Public confusion and political divisions that have already arisen as a result can potentially translate into violent expression.”
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court sat to decide the legality of political manoeuvres that led to parliament being dissolved.
The court must rule if the deputy speaker of the National Assembly violated the constitution by refusing to allow a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Khan at the weekend.
Had the vote taken place Khan was certain to have been booted from office, but the move allowed him to get the loyalist president to dissolve parliament and order an election.
It is unclear when or how the court will rule on the issue — or if Khan would even accept its decision — but there is precedent.
In 1988, Muhammad Khan Junejo appealed to the court after the assembly was dissolved by then president General Zia-ul-Haq, who had taken power in a military coup years earlier.
It agreed his government had been dissolved unconstitutionally, but ruled that since elections had been announced, it was best to move on.
In 1993, the court ruled president Ghulam Ishaq Khan had also illegally dissolved the assembly — then with Nawaz Sharif as prime minister.
The supreme court is ostensibly independent, but rights activists say previous benches have been used by civilian and military administrations to do their bidding throughout Pakistan’s history.
The main opposition parties — a mosaic of ideologies from leftists to the radically religious — have been rallying for Khan’s ouster almost since he was elected in 2018.
The opposition also blames Khan for the high inflation that’s hitting households. But his government is also credited with maintaining a foreign reserve account of $18 billion, bringing in a record $29 billion last year from overseas Pakistanis.
