Pakistan: Census results ‘unanimously’ approved at meeting, signifies delay in general election
Aug 05, 2023
Islamabad [Pakistan], August 5 : The Council Common Interests (CCI) “unanimously” approved the digital census 2023 on Saturday, Dawn reported citing a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
This new statement signifies that there will be a delay in the general election which was expected to take place soon as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other members of the ruling coalition have agreed to dissolve the National Assembly prematurely on August 9 — three days before its term ends.
As soon as the CCI meeting ended, Pakistan's Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on Saturday revealed that holding general elections on the basis of the 2023 digital census was not possible before January-February 2024, The News International reported.
Talking to the Pakistani private news channel, Tarar said that a meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif "unanimously" approved new census results.
The law minister said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is to complete the delimitation process within an outer limit of 120 days. However, it is the prerogative of the ECP how soon they start the process.
This meeting came days after PakistanPM said that the upcoming elections in Pakistan would be held on the basis of the 2023 digital census, Dawn reported on Tuesday.
The premier, whose government is expected to hand over the country’s reins to a caretaker setup this August, shared this during a recorded interview on the Aaj News show ‘Faisla Aap Ka’, which was aired on Tuesday.
“We have to hold the elections on the basis of the new census … When a census has been conducted, the [polls] should be held on its basis unless there is an obstacle that cannot be overcome. But I don’t see [any such hurdle],” Dawn quoted Sharif as saying.
He added that a meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) — the body that approves census results — was expected.
Sharif further said the census results would be referred to the CCI as soon as they were finalised.
Notably, PM Sharif’s statement is a deviation from that of his ministers’ previous assertions, who said that the upcoming election would be held on the basis of the 2017 census, Dawn reported.
