General elections: ECP clears law making women participation mandatory
A proposed law calling for a mandatory 10% of the votes at every polling station to be cast by women is finally taking shape.
At a meeting of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), held under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim on Wednesday, participants unanimously agreed to ensure effective participation of women.
A draft of the law has been sent by the election authority to the law ministry for approval by parliament. The parliament needs to approve it within the next few months for the law to be implemented in the upcoming general elections.
It seeks an amendment in the Representation of People Act, 1976, which will make it compulsory for every polling station to have at least 10% of the total votes cast by women. Otherwise, the results from that specific station will not be taken into account till the provision is fulfilled.
People in some rural areas are reluctant to allow women to cast votes.
Overseas Pakistanis
On the other hand, giving overseas Pakistanis voting rights remains undecided. The process through which they would cast their ballot remains unclear.
While various options were considered during the meeting on Wednesday, the commission failed to come up with one all encompassing solution.
Four million Pakistanis are said to be living in over 50 countries. ECP maintains it is not feasible to employ postal ballots as the 15 days between the lists of candidates being finalised and Election Day are not enough.
It also believes that polling stations cannot be set up in all the countries where Pakistanis reside. Middle Eastern countries, especially, discourage political activities.
The option of online voting was also deliberated over, but officials said thousands of Pakistani expatriates are computer illiterate.
ECP will discuss the issue during its meeting with political parties today (Thursday). The commission earlier sent letters to 15 mainstream political parties inviting them to give suggestions and learn about reforms implemented by the authority so far.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2012.
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Include the following suggestions as well: 1)At each polling station 80% of the registered participation is a must. 2)The winning candidate should get votes that are more than the total number of votes casted by opponents (in case of more than 02 candiadtes in a constituency). 3)The winning candidate should secure 50% votes of the registered voters 4) At least 10% voters must be matric pass