Election timetable after House dissolution: February 1 or 8, 2026 in play
New election timeline after the House dissolution decree took effect on December 12, 2025, points to Sunday polls on February 1 or February 8, 2026, with results due by early April.
The new election timetable following the dissolution decree, which took effect on December 12, 2025, is governed by a legal requirement to hold a fresh poll within 45–60 days. This places the valid election window between January 26 and February 10, 2026.
However, although January 26, 2026 marks Day 45 under the standard calculation, it falls on a Monday, not a Sunday. In practice, the Election Commission (EC) typically opts to hold elections on Sundays, even though this is not explicitly stated in the law.
As a result, when considering only the Sundays within the 45–60 day window, the dates that meet the criteria are limited to February 1 and February 8, 2026.
As for statutory deadlines set out under Section 12 of the Organic Act on the Election of Members of the House of Representatives, the EC must announce the election date in the Royal Gazette within five days of the decree taking effect, making December 17, 2025 the deadline.
The start of constituency candidate registration must be set no later than 15 days after the decree takes effect, meaning December 27, 2025 is the final day on which registration can begin. Candidate registration must remain open for at least five days, meaning that if registration were to open on December 27, the earliest possible closing date would be December 31, 2025.
For the submission of prime ministerial candidates, political parties must file their nominee lists before the close of the registration period, with the exact cut-off dependent on the EC’s official announcement.
After the election, the law requires the EC to certify and announce the results within 60 days. Key examples of the resulting timelines include:
- Election on February 1, 2026 → results deadline April 2, 2026
- Election on February 8, 2026 → results deadline April 9, 2026
- Election on February 10, 2026 → results deadline April 11, 2026
Following the announcement of results, the first sitting of parliament must be convened within 15 days, meaning the new House would have to open between April 17 and April 26, 2026, depending on the final polling date.
