Pakistan to hold general elections on July 25

Islamabad: Pakistan will hold general elections on July 25, a presidential spokesman has said even as the deadlock between ruling PML-N and the opposition persisted over picking up an interim prime minister.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a letter to the president on May 21 had proposed to hold elections for the National Assembly and four provincial assemblies between July 25 and 27.

President Hussain yesterday approved July 25 as the polling date for general and provincial elections, officials in the President Office said.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf is expected to be the main challenger to the ruling party in the general elections.

The present government will complete the tenure on May 31 and the caretaker government will take over form June 1 and remain in office until a new government is set up through elections.

The country experienced its first democratic transition of power in 2013, when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) came out on top as the biggest party.

Since the term of the assemblies would be expiring next week, a caretaker set-up will be installed at the Centre and the provinces to run day-to-day affairs of the government till the time new assemblies are elected.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and opposition leader Khursheed Shah have yet to agree on who will be the caretaker prime minister. The two had held half a dozen meetings but have so far failed to come up with a consensus name.

Earlier, the ECP announced that a total of 105.95 million voters will use their right of vote to elect the new government.

Among them are 59.2 million male and 46.7 million female voters, showing A gender gap of over 12.5 million.