Ministers of interim Pakistani PM’s cabinet take oath
Pakistan has sworn in a caretaker cabinet under interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar who has promised to hold fair and free elections by the end of the year but they are likely to be delayed.
Pakistani President Dr. Arif Alvi on Thursday administered oath to a caretaker cabinet, days after Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar was sworn in as interim Prime Minister to oversee general elections.
In addition to supervising the upcoming polls, the caretaker government will also be dealing with a severe economic crisis and political instability that have grappled the country following the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan in April last year.
Economic reforms also implemented to secure the International Monetary Fund loan have led to high levels of inflation, increasing the cost of living for the general public.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government was dissolved by President Alvi on August 9, a few days before it completed its full term.
Elections likely to be delayed
Under Pakistan's constitution, a neutral caretaker government will oversee elections that must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of parliament's lower house, which in this case means early November.
However, the elections are likely to be delayed as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that it will conduct fresh delimitation of hundreds of constituencies prior to the upcoming polls.
The ECP said that the new constituencies would be finalized by December 14, PTV reported on Thursday.
Earlier this month, ECP had explicitly expressed its inability to hold the polls based on the latest census results.
ECP statement came after the Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved the results of the 2023 digital census, making the fresh delimitation exercise almost compulsory.
CCI is a constitutional body in the Government of Pakistan that resolves disputes of power-sharing between the federation and its provinces.
Previously, former PM Shehbaz Sharif had hinted that the elections could be delayed.
“We have to hold the elections on the basis of the new census...When a census has been conducted, the polls should be held on its basis unless there is an obstacle that cannot be overcome. But I don’t see (any such hurdle),” Sharif said.
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