Fawad says electoral reforms national agenda, not only PTI's

Info minister says consensus on reforms to ensure success of political system

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday said that the electoral reforms were a part of the national agenda and not of a particular individual or party.

The minister took to his official Twitter handle to state that electoral reforms were not “the agenda of Imran Khan or Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf [PTI],” but were a national agenda.

انتخابی اصلاحات عمران خان یا تحریک انصاف کا ایجنڈا نہیں ہے یہ ایک قومی ایجنڈا ہے، تمام سیاسی جماعتیں انتخابی اصلاحات کیلئے آگے بڑھیں سیاسی نظام کی بہت بڑی کامیابی ہو گی اگر ایسا انتخابی نظام ترتیب دیا جائے جس کے تحت تمام قیادت انتخابی نتائج پر اعتماد کرے

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) November 14, 2021

Fawad maintained that all political parties should move forward towards electoral reforms.

“It will be a great success for our political system if an electoral system is set up under which all the leaders are able to trust election results,” he said.

Earlier this month Fawad confirmed in a post-cabinet meeting press briefing that Prime Minister Imran Khan had sought the support of PTI's allies for electoral reforms, which included the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and giving roughly nine million overseas Pakistanis the right to vote in the next general elections.

“We [the government] presented 49-point electoral reform idea before the allies,” the minister said, adding that further briefings would be given to the coalition partners in this regard. “We have sought their support for the electoral reforms agenda and they have graciously agreed,” he said.

Read EVMs bill to ensure free, fair elections: PM

However, earlier this week three of the allies had expressed reservations about recognising the EVM bill, during a meeting the government had convened to take on board its coalition partners over the electoral reforms.

Sources that attended the meeting, on the condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that the PML-Q, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and MQM-P had raised concerns with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Science and Technology Minister Shibli Faraz over the legislation on the use of EVMs.

They mentioned that PML-Q’s Tariq Bashir Cheema said the party could not support the bill until it consulted its leadership.

On Saturday, the party also indicated that it will go against the ruling PTI over mistreatment of its workers in Punjab and for not being included in the decision-making process.