Electoral reforms: Panel to dig through over 1,000 proposals

Fuente: 
The Express Tribune
Fecha de publicación: 
21 Oct 2014
ISLAMABAD: 

Parliamentary panel on electoral reforms has finally done a substantial work and compiled a total of 1,283 recommendations, presented by different stakeholders to revamp the electoral system of the country.

During a meeting on Monday, the panel – a 33-member bipartisan Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms – also constituted an eleven-member sub-committee to vet these proposals – received from close to a dozen organisations.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had earlier presented its draft of ‘Unified Election Law 2014’ to the committee. Other organisations – Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), US Agency for International Development (USAID) and bodies working on election system – have also proposed their set of amendments.

Proposals consist of more than 4,000 pages, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq told the lawmakers in the lower house.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who chaired the committee meeting, told reporters that there are 396 proposals related to changes in the Constitution, while a hefty 473 suggestions are related to amendments in Representation of People Act – the set of laws through which election system runs.

“Some 25 proposals relate to electoral rolls, 49 are about 2002 election laws, 312 proposals are of administrative nature, 19 are concerned with delimitation of constituencies and nine are of general nature,” he said.

The committee members also agreed to constitute an eleven-member sub-committee to be headed by Federal Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid to review these proposals.

Lawmakers preferably with a legal background are requested to work for the sub-committee for better results. The sub-committee is likely to meet on October 30.

“Electoral reforms are inevitable. We [lawmakers] have resolved to revamp the electoral system as a national obligation,” Dar told the reporters, adding that the committee had already invited all members to contribute their best towards this end.

A special team at the Parliament has prepared copies of all the tabulated proposals which are presented for perusal of members of the committee.

Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Sahibzada Tariqullah, a key member of the committee, told The Express Tribune that the 33-member parliamentary panel would take at least two more months to finalise the process.

“It seems that fresh legislation, particularly, some amendments in the Constitution are needed to revamp the system,” he said, adding that all political parties stood united for ‘this noble cause’.

The parliamentary committee – comprising members from all the parties represented in the National Assembly and Senate – started working on August 6 and was mandated to complete its work within three months.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab informed the lawmakers in National Assembly that 317 of 403 complaints regarding alleged rigging had been disposed of so far while the rest would be decided by the tribunals by December 31 of this year.

“Fifty-six petitions are still pending with election tribunals in Punjab, 16 in Sindh and eight each in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa. Fifteen tribunals are hearing these petitions in all four provinces,” he added.

During the course of proceedings, the ECP Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan informed lawmakers that the top polls body wanted to introduce bio-metric system in future elections. “In the next meeting, the ECP will come up with some fresh proposals for lawmakers to deliberate on,” a member of the committee said.