President of Pakistan Dissolves National Assembly
ISLAMABAD: President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi Wednesday night signed the ‘advice’ sent by Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif for dissolution of the National Assembly (NA).
“The president dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of the prime minister under Article 58-1 of the Constitution,” read an official statement issued by the President’s Office on X, formerly known as Twitter.
صدر مملکت ڈاکٹر عارف علوی نے قومی اسمبلی تحلیل کر دی
صدر مملکت نے قومی اسمبلی کی تحلیل وزیر ِ اعظم کی ایڈوائس پر آئین کے آرٹیکل 58 ایک کے تحت کی pic.twitter.com/B7kGkMWLEh
— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) August 9, 2023
Dissolution of Lower House of Parliament
With the dissolution of the lower house of parliament, the current government’s tenure came to an end prematurely.
The prime minister, while addressing the National Assembly’s (NA) session earlier in the day, said he would write to President Dr Arif Alvi tonight to dissolve the National Assembly (NA), which would bring the government’s term to a premature end.
The government had announced that assemblies would be dissolved on August 9 (today), three days ahead of its mandated period, following which elections are to be held within 90 days.
Possibility of Delay in General Elections
‘Elections likely to be delayed’
However, ministers have recently stated that there was a possibility of a delay in holding the next general elections as the Council of Common Interest (CCI) “unanimously” approved the 2023 census.
Khawaja Asif stated that there is a possibility of a delay in holding the next general elections.
“I do believe that elections will be held in November. But you asked me if there is a possibility of delay: There is a possibility of a delay but not more than a couple of months on technical grounds,” he said.
When asked whether the approval of the 2023 census would result in an election delay, Khawaja Asif said: “I cannot speculate at the moment but it is a possibility. I won’t rule that out.”
On the other hand, Rana Sanaullah said that the general elections would be held in the third week of February or the first week of March after new delimitations.
