Legislative assembly elections: JKPP to push for direct elections for president

Elections likely to take place in May or June next year

ISLAMABAD: The Azad Kashmir president should be elected through a direct public vote, newly-elected Jammu Kashmir Peoples’ Party (JKPP) President Sardar Khalid Ibrahim Khan suggested on Saturday.

While addressing a press conference at National Press Club, the party president said, “We do not support the idea of completely scrapping of 1974 Interim Act, but there is a dire need to revisit it in order to restore the sanctity of the act and dignity of the presidency”.

All the major political parties will be contesting elections for the legislative assembly in AJK, likely to be held in May or June next year.

Khan said major constitutional changes came in General Yahya’s era, when adult franchise was adopted and a democratic setup was introduced in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

In 1974, parliamentary system was introduced in AJK under the Interim Constitution Act, which has undergone a number of amendments. Since 1975, the prime minister has been elected by members of the legislative assembly and is the chief executive of the state, whereas the president is the constitutional head.

He said the system in his party was comparatively better than many others because it holds biannual intraparty elections.

“The 1974 act damaged the sanctity of the presidency. The post is literally auctioned in AJK,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2015.