The by-elections for the national and provincial assemblies, originally scheduled for June 3, will now occur on June 18.  The period for submitting nomination papers has been extended to May 6.  The original deadline was this coming Monday.

This gives the government additional time to have the Supreme Court remove the graduation requirement, which currently prevents Asif Zardari from running for parliament.  It also gives Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif additional time to secure their electoral eligibility, either through a deal with Pervez Musharraf or a decision in their favor from a friendly Supreme Court.  The governing coalition has agreed to restore the deposed judiciary, but there are internal differences over their self-imposed deadline.  The sacked court, seen as more favorable to Nawaz Sharif than the present court, could be restored by the end of this month.