Will Pakistan get a new president before it gets its new prime minister?

Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi may not administer the oath to the next prime minister since his replacement would be elected before the next federal government is established, according to a media report on Tuesday.

According to News International, the newly-elected National Assembly members’ oaths might be administered on February 26, three days before the deadline for calling the House for its maiden session, with a similar process taking place the next day.

If the members elected to both chambers take an oath in the national legislature, they will no longer be members of the provincial parliament.

According to reliable legislative sources who spoke to the newspaper, elections for the Senate’s 53 members, the chairman and deputy chairman, and ultimately the nation’s president must take place by March 8. There will be a cap on the amount of time available to hold presidential votes.

According to insiders, if the president is elected a week sooner, a new president would administer the oath to the incoming prime minister rather than incumbent Alvi.

The sources said that voting for Senate members would be possible for members of the national and provincial assemblies after they had taken the oath of office.

The sources have given the schedule for the whole process and told the paper that the members of the assemblies will have to submit their expense details by February 18 and notification of the elected members will be made by February 22.

The session in the case of the National Assembly could be held on February 26, while the provincial assemblies could be summoned on the same or the following day. Once the oath is administered, they would become regular members of their respective houses. The process of Senate election will be initiated and that will take four days.

As soon as the Senate oath will culminate, the schedule for the president’s election will be started. On the other hand, a five-day schedule for the election of speakers, deputy speakers, and prime minister in case of the National Assembly and chief ministers in the provincial assemblies will commence, the sources said.

President Arif Alvi had declined to administer the oath to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on August 14, 2022, and the Chairman Senate had to perform the function after the National Assembly passed a no-confidence motion against then prime minister Imran Khan.

Alvi, who avoided it under the pretext of his health, was present in the presidency during the oath-taking and he watched it through a CCTV system of the tall building.

Alvi, 74, was a senior member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party before former prime minister Khan made him the country’s President in 2018.

The sources reminded that the caretaker prime minister and cabinet members will stay in their respective offices till the moment a new prime minister takes oath, according to the paper.