Concerns are mounting in Pakistan that a general election due later this year could be delayed after the government announced that the vote could take place only after a new census was completed and new constituency boundaries drawn.
The announcement from the nation’s law minister that it could take four months to complete the process came on the same day that the former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for “corrupt practices”, involving the sale of state gifts, and disqualified him from politics.
The opposition party led by Khan claims the ruling coalition of the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, is seeking to avoid facing an election as Khan’s popularity grows. Sharif’s tenure expires on 12 August. A caretaker government will take over from him to hold the elections in a maximum of three months.
The government denies it is dragging its feet, saying it is a constitutional requirement to hold elections under the latest census.
The law minister, Azam Nazeer Tarar, told Geo News TV that it could take about four months to complete the census and draw new constituency boundaries. That means the elections due by November at the latest could be delayed by several months, a former top official of the Election Commission of Pakistan, Kanwar Dilshad, told Reuters. “It is going to make things very complicated,” he said.
Tarar said the decision was taken at a meeting of the Council of Common Interest, which included representatives from federal and provincial governments. “It was a consensus decision to hold elections under the new census,” the minister said.
Speaking in the senate, a former chair of the chamber, Raza Rabbani, warned against the delay.
“Our constitution stresses that the elections must be held within 60 to 90 days after the government completes its terms. The election commission of Pakistan must break its silence on the matter. The federation will be destroyed if polls are delayed,” Rabbani said.
Dilshad confirmed that it was a constitutional provision to redraw constituencies after being notified of a new census by the government.
“In order to make the delimitation of these hundreds of constituencies across the country, it would take at least four to six months,” said Dilshad.
Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, a renowned constitutionalist, said: “The decision is against the spirit of the constitution of Pakistan and it is politically and ethically also wrong.”
Khan said that the decision to notify the census had become more problematic as the country now had two caretaker chief ministers who did not have the power to make long-term decisions.
Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, a former senator, said that the move to delay the elections had come about due to the insecurity of the ruling coalition over its electoral prospects.
Khokhar said: “Back-breaking inflation has added on to Imran Khan’s popularity. What they should be mindful of is that once the elections are delayed their own political relevance will reduce significantly and the security establishment might do away with the obligation of holding elections altogether.”
However, senators from the National party, JUI-F, PkMap and ANP walked out from the senate on Sunday in protest against reducing the population of Balochistan.
There were scattered rallies around the country on Sunday against Khan’s arrest, but no immediate sign of a mass uprising despite his call for supporters to protest. His lawyers said on Sunday they had not been able to reach Khan in jail and were being denied access to him for talks to mount urgent legal challenges against his conviction.
They also raised concern about his confinement at Attock jail, established 100 years ago on the outskirts of historical Attock city, about 60km (40 miles) west of the capital, Islamabad.
“He is a 70-year-old man and a former elected prime minister so legally he should be given a better class [of conditions] inside the jail,” said Gohar Khan, a member of his legal team.
Officials from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said about 50 supporters had been detained overnight as police moved swiftly against protests after Khan was arrested and taken to jail.
