The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday reiterated its position that it cannot announce the results of the House of Representatives elections under the Proportional Representation (PR) category before the National Assembly elections.

Amid criticisms from leaders of the left alliance and street protests from their sister organisations, the EC clarified its stance through a statement, saying that constitutional and legal hurdles prevent it from announcing the Lower House election results under the PR category despite its wish to do so at the earliest.

“As per the Article 84 (8) of the constitution and Clause 60 (4) of the Act on Elections to House of Representatives, the EC is unable to announce the seats obtained by the political parties under PR category and write to the political parties to recommend candidates to be elected before the elections to the Upper House are held,” the EC said in the statement on Wednesday.

Article 84 (8) of the constitution states each party should ensure at least 33 percent women representation in the federal parliament by electing PR candidates to the Lower House if there has not been such representation through the House of Representatives elections under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system and 56 out of 59 members of the Upper House are elected.

Clause 60 (4) of the law says that the EC should inform the parties about the election results under PR by ensuring that at least a third of the women are represented in the federal parliament and informing them about the number of women required to be elected from each party under the PR category to the Lower House for the purpose.

With the EC proposing February 8 date for the Upper House elections, the announcements of PR results for the Lower House is expected to take more than a month. This means the formation of new government as per the fresh popular mandate will be pushed further back.