ECP must devise a strategy to identify political parties which prevent women from voting
LAHORE: The secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan, Zafar Iqbal, during a session at the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Studies stated that in numerous instances, political parties themselves do not allow female voters to cast their votes. This is height of hypocrisy and double standards, that the same politicians who, on the one hand, pass legislations to increase female voters’ turnout in elections and, on the other, deliberately stop them from casting their votes.
The ECP secretary, however, did not name any political party in particular which prevent female voters from casting votes, but one can easily say that it is mostly political parties having conservative ideologies which are likely to engage in such practices.
The ECP must devise a strategy to identify political parties which prevent women from voting and must ban them from registering for elections. As without female participation in the political realm, the dream of female empowerment is likely to remain a dream forever.
Asma Saeed
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2017.
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