Pakistan President set to lose even more powers

Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain, already a figurehead, is set to shed some remaining powers too. A parliamentary panel on electoral reforms has proposed to take away the discretionary powers of the President to decide the date of the general elections.

According to the recommendations, the President should share that power with the Election Commission of Pakistan and announce the election date only after consultations.

The President, as per the Constitution, announces the date for new polls and the ECP formulates the elections schedule accordingly.

Over the past few years, an assertive Parliament has curtailed the authority of the President, taking away from him the power to dissolve assemblies and impose governor’s rule in the provinces.

The first and the most potent discretionary power the President lost was the authority to dissolve the Assemblies under Article 58-2B introduced through the Eighth Amendment in 1985 during General Ziaul Haq’s military regime.

During Nawaz Sharif’s previous tenure as Prime Minister in 1997, the Parliament stripped the President of his reserve power to dissolve the National Assembly.