Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will head a Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting today. The primary topic on the agenda is the 2023 census, with the results ready for approval from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). If accepted, the upcoming elections may experience a delay due to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) needing to perform a delimitation exercise based on the new data. According to law, elections must use the most recent census data once officially recognized.
Division Among Coalition Partners Over Census and Election Timing
PM Shehbaz Sharif’s principal coalition allies, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) are divided on the census issue. The PPP insists that the election proceed based on the 2017 census data and should not be delayed. However, MQM-P contends that conducting elections on previous enumeration data is unacceptable. Talal Chaudhry, a leader from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), argued that a delay in polls would be acceptable if it ensures that election results are agreeable to all parties.
