Ahead of the 13th National Parliamentary Election, the Election Commission may release the roadmap next week. On Thursday, the four commissioners and senior EC officials held a three-hour meeting to discuss the roadmap.
The Chief Election Commissioner could not attend due to a busy schedule. The meeting decided to make several changes to the roadmap. The EC indicated that the roadmap might be finalised next Sunday, although the EC Secretary had earlier stated that it would be announced by yesterday.
In the evening, Election Commissioner Brigadier General (Retd) Abul Fazal Mohammad Sanauallah said, “The roadmap will not be announced today. A briefing on this may be held on Sunday.” Earlier, during a break in the meeting, Abul Fazal had mentioned that the roadmap might be published next Sunday or Monday.
Meeting sources reported that the draft roadmap was discussed in detail, with adjustments made to timelines in several areas. The roadmap will be announced next week after being signed by the CEC.
EC officials stated that the roadmap will include a detailed schedule for all election preparations, such as updating the voter list, redefining parliamentary constituency boundaries, registering new political parties, reforming election-related laws and regulations, training programs, procuring election materials, and approving observer organisations.
Most of the roadmap’s activities are planned to be completed by September. The EC believes that if the voter list is finalised by October and other preparations are completed, the election schedule can be announced in the first half of December, making it possible to hold the vote in February.