PTI determined to hold intra-party polls on time

Party will announce chief election commissioner next week


Danish Hussain April 16, 2017
PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: Fearing the same fate as that in the 2013 general elections when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) blamed its defeat on ‘untimely’ conduct of intra-party elections, this time around the party has geared up its efforts to hold them on time.

PTI will only follow the requirements laid down by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding intra-party elections, and not its own lengthy procedure.

PTI will announce its new chief election commissioner next week. The decision was taken on Saturday after a couple of meetings held earlier this week at PTI chief Imran Khan’s Bani Gala residence.

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Senior party leaders including Jehangir Khan Tareen, Dr Arif Alvi, Shireen Mazari, Asad Umar and others attended the meetings.

“At the moment, we [PTI] cannot share the exact timeframe for holding elections, but surely it will be done on fast track in May-June,” PTI MNA Dr Mazari informed.

The Express Tribune also talked to the party leaders, who attended the meetings. They were of the view that the party will conduct the elections in accordance with the Political Parties Order 2002 in a democratic manner.

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The previous PTI intra-party elections were held in 2012.

“PTI’s constitution is ‘extra democratic’ when it comes to holding party elections,” said PTI advocate Farrukh Dal. “It calls for elections at five different tiers, unlike the PPO 2002’s requirement for holding elections at three tiers.”

He said the PTI constitution provides election of 30 office-bearers at local level, the primary and basic tier, which makes the exercise lengthy and time consuming.

“These elections will not be as symbolic as those of other mainstream parties, but will be according to the party’s constitutional demands,” he said.

Electoral reforms and policy on reserved seats

Election of one president and his team for a whole district would be enough to meet the ECP’s requirements, he said and added that currently the party is weighing different options on how to conduct these elections.

PTI has some 2.7 million registered members.

“Schedule for the intra-party elections and process of casting votes by the registered members will be announced in the coming days,” PTI spokesperson Naeemul Haque said.

In March 2017, the ECP barred PTI from using its election symbol ‘bat’ during any elections in the future as the party had failed to conduct intra-party elections on time.

PPO 2002 requires holding intra-party elections after every four years. However, to use election symbol in PP-23 constituency, where election is scheduled for next week, the PTI managed to obtain a stay order from the court.

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In December 2015, Khan announced to hold elections within the party, but for one reason or the other they were delayed.

Although the first intra-party elections of the PTI in 2012 were held under democratic norms which distinguished PTI from rest of the political parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the failure in general elections 2013 still haunts the leadership.

Intra-party elections of 2012 divided the party ahead of general elections of 2013 as it lost its stalwarts, including Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, due to differences with the party chairman. Khan, himself, admitted that owing to untimely conduction of that election, PTI could not focus on the general elections.

It is pertinent to mention that PML-N held its intra-party elections in October 2016 – where Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and other top party leaders were elected unopposed. The PPP undertook the exercise in January 2017 with PPP-Parliamentarians electing former president Asif Ali Zardari as its president and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as chairman, unopposed. Everyone within PPP was elected unopposed.

COMMENTS (1)

Khan | 6 years ago | Reply "PML-N held its intra-party elections in October 2016 – where Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and other top party leaders were elected unopposed. The PPP undertook the exercise in January 2017 with PPP-Parliamentarians electing former president Asif Ali Zardari as its president and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as chairman, unopposed. Everyone within PPP was elected unopposed"....that show how democratic both PMLN and PPP-P are
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