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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s chief election commissioner said on Thursday that President Dr. Arif Alvi was not authorized to set the date of the next election following amendments to the country’s election laws, deepening the political crisis in the southern Pakistani nation. Asia, where the elections scheduled for November are already expected. be late

The development comes a day after Alvi wrote a letter to the chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, inviting him to a meeting to set an “appropriate” date for Pakistan’s upcoming elections. Alvi claimed in the letter that under Pakistan’s constitution, he was obliged to set a date for the elections within 90 days of the date of the dissolution of the National Assembly.

However, a delay in the elections beyond the constitutional limit of 90 days is almost inevitable, since the outgoing government of former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the results of a new population census days before dissolving the assemblies on August 9. and hand over power to an interim administration. The ECP is now required to redraw hundreds of provincial and federal electoral districts on the basis of the latest census results, an exercise the commission says will end on December 14, effectively delaying elections beyond the 90 limit. days.

In June, Sharif’s government also approved amendments to the 2017 Electoral Law, giving the ECP the power to unilaterally announce the date of the elections.

Before the amendment of article 57 (1) of the Electoral Law of 2017, the president had to consult the electoral commission before determining the date of the elections. However, after the modification, the commission has been empowered to announce the date unilaterally.

In response to Alvi’s letter, the chief election commissioner said the ECP “understands and believes that the power to designate an election date or dates rests with the commission.”

Raja said that redrawing federal and provincial electoral districts after the approval of the last population census was one of the “fundamental legal steps” for holding elections, which the ECP had initiated under the 2017 Electoral Law “to protect the rights fundamentals of competing political parties and candidates. , and electorates” as guaranteed by the constitution of Pakistan.

“The electoral commission is taking its responsibility to hold the general elections very seriously and has also started the process of inviting the main political parties to give their opinion on the electoral roadmap,” he said.

“The commission considers that participation in the meeting (called by the president) would have little consequence,” Raja concluded.

The election commission has invited major political parties including Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI -F). for inquiries about the redistricting of electoral districts and the upcoming elections.

The parties have created their own committees to meet with electoral commission officials and give their opinion.

Legal experts say there were loopholes in the laws that have left room for disagreements between the president and the electoral regulator over who had the authority to set the date of the election.

“It was bad faith on the part of the coalition government of the outgoing Shehbaz Sharif to get controversial amendments to the Electoral Law passed to empower the electoral commission to set the date of the elections,” said Judge (retired) Nasira Iqbal, a prominent legal expert. Arab news.

“The purpose is to delay the elections beyond the constitutional limit of 90 days, either under one pretext or another, which is why the electoral commission is doing it,” he said, adding that the Supreme Court should intervene to resolve the matter.

Hafiz Hamdullah, spokesman for the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of political parties that formed the previous government, said parliament had the right to legislate on crucial issues, including empowering the election commission to hold free and fair elections.

“The coalition government amended the Electoral Law to make the electoral commission an effective and powerful institution,” Hamdullah told Arab News. “Now the electoral commission is legally empowered to set the date of the elections without consulting the president.”

Advocate Ali Hussain Bhatti said that while the ECP had the right to decide the date of the elections, the regulator should not delay national elections beyond the constitutional limit of 90 days.

“This matter will eventually go to the Supreme Court,” he said, “for instructions on the powers and authority of the president and the electoral commission to set the date of the elections.”