ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: The Election Commission of Pakistan would announce the date for general elections on November 21, after the country’s provincial assemblies were dissolved, an official said on Saturday.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf has promised that the country will go to the polls before January 9, but the opposition is mulling a boycott if the vote is held under emergency rule.

“Yes, the provincial assemblies are being dissolved on November 20 and the election schedule will be announced immediately after,” Commission secretary Kunwar Dilshad said when asked if the date would be given on November 21.

Major political parties have been invited to the Election Commission on November 19 to discuss a code of conduct for the vote, Dilshad told AFP.

Attorney-General Malik Mohammed Qayyum told AFP earlier that “hopefully” the election schedule would be announced on November 21.

—AFP