Islamabad: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the date of 8 February 2024 for general elections all across Pakistan.
Source: Dawn
In the News
What is the election date in Pakistan? This question has been on everybody’s mind for a whole year now.
When Punjab Assembly was dissolved on 14 January and later KP assembly dissolved on 18 January early this year there was one question discussed widely.
When is the next election in Pakistan?
This delayed election crisis compounded when the 90-days constitutional limit passed with provincial elections in both provinces.
Context of the news
It has been a while that Pakistan is grappling with the political crisis. It started in April 2022 when the government of Imran Khan was ousted by the vote of no confidence motion. From then on Imran Khan started a political campaign where he built a narrative about the removal of his government through the vote of no confidence motion as a regime change operation by the US.
Source:Geo
This has got on the popular nerve and the public gatherings of Imran Khan Jalsas gets bigger and bigger. Later on, PTI dissolved the Assemblies of Punjab and KPK which led to another constitutional crisis.
Debates emerged about conducting elections within the Constitutional frame or conducting them on the same day nearly all over the country. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court order of conducting elections was also not adhered to by the government of PDM. Political temperature kept on increasing with the mass gatherings and jalsas all over the country. The unfortunate events of May 9 further added another dimension to the current crisis.
Crisis plus crisis
In addition to the political crisis there was also an economic crisis which compounded into a national crisis consisting of both political and economic maelstrom. There was a petrol hike, Dollar hike, and price hike in everyday food items.
The current happenings
The announcement of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) about conducting elections next year February 8, 2024, has ended the year long uncertainty about elections.
The political landscape has also changed over the period of time with the arrival of Nawaz Sharif who is spearheading the campaign for the upcoming elections. The leader of PTI Imran Khan is in jail facing cases of cipher and Al-Qadir trust. The IMF is also hovering over Pakistan and the economy is facing a crisis from one tranche to the next.
