How legal experts view president's proposal letter to ECP
Pakistan
How legal experts view president's proposal letter to ECP
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Legal experts have offered a mixed reaction to President Dr Arif Alvi’s letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) proposing November 6 as the date for the next general elections.
Commenting on the subject, former attorney general for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf told Dunya News that the president’s letter stirred up an environment of uncertainty. In his view, the letter was not in line with the Office of the President. He said this letter would not create a constitutional crisis, but an environment of uncertainty.
He said the president, through the letter, wanted to foment political and economic instability. He said it seemed the letter was not written by the president, but a worker of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Ausaf also questioned whether it was justified to put the country’s solidarity at stake just to appease the political leadership.
Read also: ECP calls consultative meeting on president's election date proposal
Opining on the matter, law expert Raja Khalid said the ball was still in the court of the election commissioner. He said that the exercise of delimitations was to be concluded in the light of the new census. He said holding elections was not a cakewalk and the ECP would make preparations in accordance with the new delimitations.
Read also: President Alvi proposes Nov 6 as polls date
Commenting on the subject, litigation lawyer and political commentator Abdul Moiz Jaferii argued that the president derived his power to announce the election date from the Constitution. He said this was an authority that took primacy over any claims that the ECP might make with regard to their power to announce electoral dates. He was of the view that the power of the ECP, in any case, was subject to the constitutional command of elections within 90 days of an assembly’s dissolution.
