After working hard to sort out all the issues leading up to the nationwide general election — like picking the date for voting and wrapping up campaigning — the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is ready for the big day on February 8.
Once people have cast their votes, the ECP will get busy with the next important step: counting the votes. This is a crucial part of the election process, and it’s when things can get a bit tense.
As soon as voting ends at 5pm tomorrow (Thursday), the ECP will start getting results from all over the country. The news will start reporting on the election results from 6pm onwards. But it’s important to remember that these reports are unofficial and not confirmed.
In a recent press conference, Additional Director General (ADG) Nighat Sadique explained that the people in charge of each polling station have to send the results to the election commission by 2am on February 9.
If there are any delays, the returning officer (RO) will find out why from the person in charge of the polling station (PO) and let the ECP know about it.
The ADG from the ECP also said during the press conference that they expect to have all the election results finalized by 10am. And once that’s done, Pakistan will have its new government.
It’s worth mentioning that announcing the election results happens in three steps: first, there are provisional results, then the results get consolidated, and finally, the results are officially declared.
