Towards electoral reforms?

EDITORIAL: The government has made an important offer to the opposition. Speaking at a joint news conference with Information Minister Shibli Faraz, a week ago, Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry extended the olive branch to the opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), inviting it to a discussion on electoral reforms. A bill on the subject has already been pending in a parliamentary committee, he pointed out. For its part, the government has proposed holding of polls through electronic machines, right of vote to overseas Pakistanis, curtailment of presiding officers’ powers, etc. Later, a statement issued by the National Assembly Secretariat announced the decision to form a parliamentary committee, with equal representation of both the opposition and government members, for making electoral reforms and also a constitutional amendment to grant Gilgit-Baltistan the status of a provisional province – there is no difference of opinion on the latter subject.

Political temperatures have been running high since last month’s NA-75 by-election in Daska. The opposition had cried foul, leading to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declaring the entire exercise as void and ordering fresh polls. Close on the heels of that fiasco followed the contest for Senate seats, which the government wanted to be held by show of hand rather than through secret ballot, vehemently opposed by the opposition. The government went to great lengths to have an open vote, albeit without success. In the event, both sides cried foul, first the government when its prime candidate, Finance Minister Dr Hafeez Sheikh, lost, and then the opposition as its heavyweight candidate for the position of Senate chairman, Yousuf Raza Gilani, faced defeat along with its aspirant for deputy chairman. Both sides since have been trading accusations with the government alleging horse trading and the PDM blaming the presiding officer of unfairly cancelling seven votes cast in Gilani’s favour. Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood came out on Tuesday to hold a news conference, where he called for the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and all the four ECP members over their alleged failure to ensure transparency in the Senate elections. Nonetheless, he said, the government had no intention to file a reference against the CEC and ECP members, but just wanted to give a “political response and solution” to the issue at hand.

It is about time the issues creating heated controversy after every election were ironed out. Try as the PDM parties may, the national elections are unlikely to be held half-way through the present assemblies’ term, but they are not far away. Besides, local government elections are round the corner. It is imperative therefore that both sides sit together to reform the electoral process through a serious debate. Signs are of that happening despite some of the PDM members’ reservations about settling issues of discord inside Parliament. Talking to journalists on Tuesday in a different context, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said, “the PDM should take its political decisions with utmost seriousness to harm the government politically and achieve its target of supremacy of Parliament and the Constitution.” The same day, PML-N legislator Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha disclosed that the opposition parties in their recent meeting of the PDM had decided to move a resolution in the National Assembly, asking the Speaker to constitute a parliamentary committee comprising MNAs and senators to discuss electoral reforms to make future elections transparent and non-controversial. As noted earlier, the Speaker has already announced his intention to form such a committee. Since both sides have commonality of interest at least on this one issue, something good is expected to come out of their deliberations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021