Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said on Saturday it was seriously considering the option of appointing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) from a list of names forwarded by the leader of the opposition to ensure free and impartial Election Commission (EC).
This was stated by the PPP leaders during a meeting with the European Union delegation here at Zardari House wherein the PPP presented its vision about reforms in electoral process. It was only possible through an independent Election Commission.
The PPP delegation included Senator Latif Khosa, Farzana Raja and Fozia Habib MNAs as well as Amir Fida Paracha while EU delegation included Ms Helen Campbell, head of Unit (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives), Heino Marius, Deputy Head of Unit (Relations with Pakistan), Paul Turner (Relations with Afghanistan) and Tomas Niklasson, Head of section (political, economic and trade matters).
The PPP leaders said their government has also started issuance of computerised identity cards to all citizens of Pakistan free of cost that would help in preparing voter lists with larger accuracy.
The PPP leader, Senator Khosa, said that they would have a fresh census in the country this year and accurate statistics of population would help their government make people-friendly policies. The PPP leaders said their government would take all possible measures to ensure maximum participation of women in electoral process because without their participation, true democracy was not possible.
The EU delegation discussed with PPP leaders mutual working areas for strengthening democracy, reconciliation, identification of potential areas for supporting the electoral process and the current situation in Fata and Afghanistan.
The EU delegates exchanged their experience with the PPP leaders pertaining to monitoring of February 18 polls in Pakistan. They pointed out the problems they faced during monitoring and gave their suggestions to mend them with stressing the need for strengthening institutions.
They also suggested that Member of Parliaments should have a secretariat with secretarial and technical support to improve their performance. The delegation also proposed training programs for capacity building of the members. Both sides agreed to have more mutual interactions in order to take collective measures for democratic institutions empowerment in Pakistan.
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