Pakistan’s electoral system

The founding fathers of Pakistan envisioned for this country a political system which is truly representative of its people, irrespective of their class, religion, or socio-economic characteristics. For this purpose, the vision of democracy was included in the 1949 Objectives Resolution, which provided that the state should exercise its power through the people’s chosen representatives, a vision which later formed part of all three constitutions of Pakistan.

An electoral process is the lynchpin of democracy, allowing people to exercise their fundamental right to vote. Consequently, it is a dilemma for Third World countries such as Pakistan that our electoral system is marred by multidimensional inequalities and transgressions, owing to tyrannical and corrupt governments which hinder the public’s voting rights. This a predicament which once affected more developed political systems as well, for George Orwell believed that the “English electoral system is all but open fraud in a dozen obvious ways, it is gerrymandered in the interest of the moneyed class.” His views mirror the actual scenario of Pakistan, where the influential class resorts to political tactics, including illicit means of attaining votes, for their victory in elections.

In Pakistan, almost all general elections have been denounced by opposition parties as rigged. Citizens raise concerns about manipulations by polling staff, favouring voters of one party at the polling stations and restricting voters of the other. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) itself is criticised and branded biased and nepotistic. There exist, to this date, massive loopholes in the system which, despite previous attempts at reform, remain seriously unaddressed. Many countries have undertaken efforts to overhaul their electoral process in a bid to employ the highest standards of transparency, necessary for reviving the democratic values in a country. Mexico and Kenya are two such examples, where substandard elections conducted in the 1990s and 2000s respectively led to massive social unrest and protests, culminating in major electoral reforms. Election commissions in both countries today work transparently. Would the citizens of Pakistan too have to storm the streets for those sitting in high offices to finally take adequate steps and give to the people an impartial voting system?

The current political situation of the country provides little hope for the dynastic and nepotistic political environment of the country to revolutionise. A wide array of issues exists that perhaps require the entire electoral process to be uprooted and established anew. The First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system allows for parties to form a majority government in the assemblies without attaining a 50% basic majority from the public. The electoral system is used by the party in power to its own advantage, for instance, by allowing or disallowing electronic voting machines, or permitting or limiting votes of Pakistani citizens abroad. The Representative of People’s Act allows candidates to spend up to 1 million rupees for provincial elections, and 1.5 million rupees for the general election — amounts only hereditary candidates can afford. Still, much more than this extravagant amount is spent on campaigns, which too encourage candidates to resort to foul play or face an electoral defeat as well as financial loss. The ECP itself constitutes members nominated by the party in power. What impartiality can be expected from a commission that itself is created on favouritism and partiality? Can a political party in power be expected to nominate impartial members of the ECP to conduct fair elections? For a neutral ECP, the power needs to be removed from the political parties and handed to those with greater interests in fair elections.

The transparency of an election is dependent on the electoral laws of a state. In Pakistan, since ECP is charged with the duty to conduct elections honestly, justly and in accordance with the Constitution, amendment to decades-old electoral laws is required to strengthen the ECP, ensure impartiality of the commission, abolish dynastic political rule and ensure undisputed and efficient elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2022.

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