Pakistan election to be held in last week of January

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday announced that general elections would be held in the last week of January 2024.

In a statement, the election commission said that it reviewed work on delimiting constituencies and decided that the initial list for the delimitation of constituencies would be published on September 27.

After hearing objections and suggestions regarding the exercise, the final list would be issued on November 30, the commission said. It said that polls would be held in the last week of January following the completion of a 54-day election campaign programme.

The announcement comes a day after the ECP said it had scheduled a meeting with political parties next month to discuss the code of conduct for general elections.

According to the ECP, a draft code of conduct has been shared with political parties to get their feedback before finalising the rules of the game.

The draft code says political parties, contesting candidates and election agents shall not propagate any opinion, or act in any manner prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan, or the sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan, or morality or public order, or the integrity or independence of the judiciary of Pakistan, or which defames or brings into ridicule any government institution including the judiciary and the armed forces.

The ECP has ruled out elections this year, citing the need for fresh delimitation of constituencies following the notification of the latest 2023 digital census.