Dawood Ahmed:
ISLAMABAD: The Election 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.
Pakistan needs a long-term support program from IMF after elections
Immediately after the development was announced, Pakistan’s dollar-denominated government bonds slipped by as much as 1 cent. Most of the sovereign bonds slid lower, but the 2031 maturity fell by the most with of drop of just over 1 cent. The country faces a funding crunch and is widely expected to need a longer-term support program from the International Monetary Fund after the election.
Today’s 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.
Draft code of conduct shared with political parties
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.
