President doesn’t see elections taking place in Jan

President Dr Arif Alvi has said that he does not see general elections taking place in January 2024.

“I do not believe that elections will be held in January,” President Alvi said in an interview with a private TV channel on Wednesday.

Uncertainty has surrounded the holding of general elections after the premature dissolution of the National Assembly on Aug 9.

As the NA was dissolved three days before the end of its constitutional term, Article 224 of the Constitution mandates that elections be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the assembly.

In August, the Election Commission of Pakistan issued the schedule to carry out delimitation as per the Digital Census 2023, notified by the then PDM government days before it dissolved the National Assembly.

According to the timeline, the process of fresh delimitation of the national and four provincial assembly constituencies would be completed by Dec 14, over a month beyond the 90-day deadline for conducting general elections.

In late August, Alvi invited Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja to discuss fixing the poll date within the 90-day constitutional deadline ending in early November.

During the interview, the president said that when he wrote a letter to the ECP, proposing to resolve the issue, they replied that it “is not necessary”.

Alvi said that even if he had not gone on Hajj, he would not have signed the amendment made in the Elections Act 2017 because “it is against the Constitution”. “(Rule) 57/1 was changed in the act but I did not sign it.”

The rule – Notification of Election Programme— states, “The President shall announce the date or dates of the general elections after consultation with the Commission.”

The president said that in the parliamentary system, there was a possibility that the government might not complete its term, adding that Pakistan had come to the path of democracy with great difficulties.

On his affiliation with the former prime minister, Alvi said, “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan is still my leader and if I had not been in the President House, I would have been in jail today.”

He clarified that he did not send the reference against then Supreme Court’s Justice Qazi Faez Isa but it came from the Prime Minister House, adding that later, the former prime minister also refused that he sent the reference.

Explaining the reason for not leaving his post after his tenure ended, Alvi said that the Constitution says that the incumbent president would continue his duties until a new president was elected. “If I leave the post, it will be inappropriate for Pakistan.”