"Polling for the national and provincial assemblies will be held the same day and will be transparent from all aspects," said Farooq, during a televised address on state-run TV.
The January 8 date was earlier proposed by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who left Pakistan on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, his first foreign trip since imposing a state of emergency in the country on November 3, citing a dangerous rise in militant activity.
Commentators say Musharraf, who has come under strong pressure from the West to lift emergency rule in Pakistan as soon as possible, is seeking to enlist the support of Saudi Arabia, one of Pakistan's main political and economic partners.
A caretaker government was sworn in last Friday, shortly after opposition leader Benazir Bhutto had been released from house arrest.
The government, led by Mohammadmian Soomro, speaker of the upper house of parliament, is to ensure the smooth conduct of early parliamentary elections in January 2008.
After being released from house arrest, Bhutto told reporters that the interim government overseeing elections was "not acceptable," and that there could be "no fair and free elections under the emergency."
Gen. Musharaff earlier said he would resign as commander-in-chief before the start of December.
Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999. He has retained his presidential and military titles, as well as the right to dissolve parliament and dismiss the government.
Although Musharraf is known to have won the country's October 6 presidential elections, the results will only be officially announced after the Supreme Court rules on an opposition party petition alleging that he, as the armed forces commander in chief, was not entitled to run.
The president banned the Supreme Court from overturning the emergency order, blocked non-state TV broadcasts, and restricted people's movement in the country, measures which have been widely condemned by the international community.
However, most Pakistanis and foreign diplomats believe General Musharraf's decision was aimed at preventing the Supreme Court from invalidating his reelection in October while he was still the army chief.
