Democratic norms: PTI intra-party elections ‘before April 25’

PTI chairman urges other parties to also strengthen themselves

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has announced holding countrywide intra-party elections before its 20th foundation day on April 25.

The membership process would be completed within two months, PTI Chairman Imran Khan said while talking to the media at a press conference on Friday. Tasneem Noorani, who is the PTI’s election commissioner, accompanied him at the briefing.

“Previously we faced serious problems in registering voters as we used multiple mediums, which complicated the process. However, now we have decided to use only cell phones for the purpose,” he said.



The PTI chief said elections would be held at tehsil, district and regional levels to get only those leaders elected whom the members deem appropriate for the party. “The mechanism for the electoral process will be unveiled soon,” he added.

He said the election commission would function independently. He added that once the party offices stood dissolved on Friday, the caretaker setup would take over and he would not be seen supporting or sharing stage with any party member.

He also asked the Election Commission of Pakistan and other institutions to help the party hold the elections and begin the membership process.

Election commissioner Noorani said the party members, including Imran, would have no involvement in the election commission and they could discuss or suggest anything while visiting the office.

He said a helpline 051-111-499-499 had been set up to answer the queries of the members. The helpline would function from 9am till midnight.

He said he was formulating a strategy as to how to cover the areas where cell phone services were not available.

Replying to a question about the dissolution of the party offices in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan, Imran said nothing like that was in the offing.

Imran also urged other political parties to strengthen their internal structure through elections. ”Meritocracy and democracy go hand in hand and it is dynastic politics and nepotism that have destroyed major parties like the Pakistan Peoples Party,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2016.