Overseas Pakistanis get right to vote

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided in principle to give overseas Pakistanis right to vote in the next general election. The decision was taken at a consultative meeting of the commission on Tuesday, which was chaired by Secretary Commission Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan. The minutes of the meeting would be put before the ECP for further deliberations.
"It was decided that all those Pakistanis who possess National Identity Card required for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) would be registered in the electoral rolls and would be allowed to exercise the right of franchise", ECP stated. This landmark decision would enable 3.7 million overseas Pakistanis to participate in the general elections.
The official of commission said that the minutes of the meeting would be discussed in election commission after the election of Senate. The meeting mulled over mechanism of voting which included postal balloting, setting up polling booths in Pakistani embassies and other options. Reservation of seats for overseas community in the elected assemblies also came under discussion.
It has been stated that Secretary Commission discussed various possibilities to enroll overseas in electoral list with stakeholders. It was thought that the time period granted to the process might fall short. Some necessary amendments and legislation may be proposed in case of postal ballot papers to reach the concerned Retuning Officer before the consolidation of the results. The Overseas Pakistanis Foundation suggested in the meeting if all the overseas Pakistanis votes be sent to the concerned Pakistan's embassies where embassy could be able to attest its authenticity as well.
The foreign office was of the view that the establishment of a number of polling stations abroad for the overseas Pakistanis could be helpful in this regard. It was further suggested that it could be difficult to translate the votes into seats, therefore, some parliamentary seats could be reserved for the overseas Pakistanis where it would be mandatory for a candidate to affiliate to a political party. Other modalities of this proportional representation were discussed. The IT branch proposed that detail study be made of other countries and we should learn from their experiences.