Parliamentary elections to be held on March 17

The Elections Commission (EC) has announced today that the Parliamentary Elections will be held on the 17th of March.

In a press statement released today, EC stated that the commission has decided to hold the elections during Ramadan as there are administrative challenges to hold them following the end of the month.

They said that as schools are scheduled to have exams directly following the end of Ramadan and the subsequent Eid holidays, it may prove difficult to set up voting centers at that time owing to the lack of availability of school halls and similar venues.

Additionally, as the last ten days of Ramadan have been declared public holidays, holding the elections during that time would pose challenges to conduct election related activities that require coordination with other state entities.

The statement reads that in light of these multiple reasons, the commission has come to the decision to hold the parliamentary elections on Sunday, the seventh day of Ramadan.

The current term of parliamentarians will come to an end on May 28, 2024.

As per the law, work on holding the parliamentary elections must be initiated 120 days before the end of the ongoing parliamentary term. EC previously said that when aligned with the law, the election must be held on March 19. However, as this coincides with the mock exams conducted in schools, the EC then said at the time that the earliest date the election could be held on was March 30 (the twentieth day of Ramadan).

The EC has come to the decision to hold the election during Ramadan despite requests from the parliament's Committee on Independent Institutions and various political parties to conduct the elections after the end of the month.