The Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan after consultation with Ministry of Interior has announced a general public holiday on account of upcoming General Elections on Wednesday, 25 July 2018.
The CEC approved the holiday in a meeting. The polling for the national and provincial assemblies will be held on Wednesday, 25 July 2018.
The General Elections will be contested by 3,459 candidates for 849 seats including Provincial and National Assemblies.
The focus will be on the lower house of the Parliament, where the number of seats decides the next Prime Minister of Pakistan. For a political party to form a government on its own, a minimum of 172 out of 342 seats is needed for the simple majority which grants the power to the party to elect a Prime Minister.
The General Elections are held every five years with the majority party forming their government. The previous elections were held on 11 May 2013 wherein the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML N) formed the government, and the party head Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was chosen to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan for the third time.
With analysts favouring Imran Khan led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for the upcoming elections and PML N in tatters following the prison sentence of their leaders Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain Safdar, it would be interesting to see how the political scenario shapes up.
