The authorities, including the Election Commission of Pakistan, have deliberated several options but found them all to be flawed. DESIGN: EMA ANIS
The Supreme Court’s insistence on enabling overseas Pakistanis to vote in the May 11 general elections has placed the relevant authorities in a fix.
Severely castigated by the court for their inability to devise a workable mechanism, the authorities, including the Election Commission of Pakistan, have deliberated several options but found them all to be flawed.
Talking to The Express Tribune, sources in the ECP and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) said that none of the proposed mechanisms had been tested and even a minor error could sabotage the entire electoral exercise.
A three-member SC bench on Friday directed the secretaries of the ECP and the ministries of law and justice, information technology, foreign affairs and overseas Pakistanis, along with the NADRA chairman, to coordinate with each other and devise a mechanism that ensures Pakistani expats can vote in the May 11 polls.
“There are some proposed mechanisms, but they are overly simple … this is not an election for a club or a few constituencies,” said a top ECP official. “Options which involve the internet are prone to hacking and misuse,” he said.
Given the concentration of Pakistanis from specific areas among the overseas population, their votes could have significant impact on their native constituencies. Possible misuse, as such, creates an equally grave threat for the electoral process.
In their report submitted before the SC, NADRA’s IT experts said exercising the internet option would compromise electoral rolls severely due to risks, such as hacking, which could not be mitigated within the short time given for polls. In addition to this, they maintained internet voting could not reliably confirm voters’ identities and would also compromise their privacy.
“Such confirmation can only be ensured through biometric verification… in its absence the possibility of casting votes against someone else’s identity cannot be ruled out,” the experts added.
The possibility of using voters’ voice signatures for recognition has also been discussed, according to sources. But, this option, too, cannot be implemented on such a short notice given that there is no database tagging citizens’ voice signature with their National Identity Cards.
NADRA itself, meanwhile, proposed setting up polling stations at Pakistani missions abroad. Registered voters living overseas would be able vote at mission nearest to their location on polling day. The voters would have to come in person to the mission, where a presiding officer would capture their thumb impression using a digitiser to confirm their identity and link it to the voter’s native constituency. After the voter confirms his/her vote, the data would be transferred to the ECP database.
This mechanism too, however, is not without its flaws. A major impediment is the limited space available at the missions. In case of a large turnout at a particular mission, the voting process might not conclude on time. Another hurdle, for voters, would be getting to the mission itself – even the nearest one might lie beyond certain voters’ reach.
In addition to this, it is estimated that setting up such facilities at Pakistani missions in 15 countries would cost the government around $1.5 million.
According to the ECP official, there were legal and diplomatic hitches before NADRA’s proposal as well.
Of the 4.5 million overseas Pakistanis registered to vote, around 1.7 million live in Saudi Arabia, 1.3 million live in the UAE, 277,131 live in Oman, 131,589 live in Kuwait and 80,166 live in Bahrain – most of these countries do not allow such political activities.
Of the remaining number, 367,988 registered Pakistani voters live the in UK, 131,589 in the US, 90,148 in Canada, 56,495 in Greece, 55,851 in Malaysia, 39,618 in Spain, 23,585 in France and 15,728 live in Australia.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 31st, 2013.
COMMENTS (35)
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Itna Pakistan say pyar hai or elections say, then come back to pakistan, rather than asking for your rights. The pakistanis living outside the country is one of the reaons pakistan has not progressed. When all you educated people leave the country, who is back in Pakistan to contribute. And now you are asking for voting rights. Then us Pakistanis living in Pakistan should be given the right to vote you EXPATS out from working or doing anything in our economy.
Pehlay mulk toh ao, contribute, and please dont say we send remittance. Apni Zaat par remittance bhaijtay ho. Koi Developments or contribution in industries nahee kartya.
Nahee, par dheet hain aap sab, vote chahyay. If dual nationals cannot participate in elections, then neither can expats vote. I hope this process doesnt work. You all want an online solution as well, so you can hack. Please igve us a break. Come to Pak first. or travel to vote.
with so many option available and so many suggestions coming the only out come appears is "when there is a will there is a way". Come on ECP do it.
They stand very little chance in doing something at such a short notice. It took 67 years to realise that vote is right of overseas diaspora so now it will not be before another 10 years to develop some mechanism.This whole processed should have been done way before election. It's not rocket science, In Australia it's compulsory to vote even if you are overseas. There are lots of options including postal voting. To give example even the soldiers deployed in Afganistan etc get to vote. In short where there is a will there is a way.
what the system you are making for overseas pakistanis to make vote told us what we need passport is enough or need id also or overseas card ?
No one is under any illusions as to the logistical hurdles in providing a mechanism for the overseas Pakistani contingency to vote. However, to use that as an excuse as a problem too difficult to solve means that the ECP and NADRA are not committed to trying hard enough to make this a reality. Sure it might need a bit of proactivity and imagination and some funding in a short span of time but a partial voter turnout at the missions due to election deadlines is better than zero overseas representation.
The number of Pakistani population in the US & Kuwait (131,589 each) seems inaccurate.
Its so simple.. All overseas Pakistanis go to their embassy and caste a vote there in person. The embassy can then send the results to ECP :s Why make a mountain out of a molehill
e-vote can be performed in smple 4 steps. 1) Enter NICOP number or Passport Number 2) Valdate with DOB or Passport Number 3) Cast Vote 4) automatically lock ID for any repition.
best part of e-voting is cost effective, No long ques, Instant counting, analysis and results.
We need the right to vote for our country and make it a better place.
Online voting is the most favorable cheapest and efficient solution.Hacking shouldn't be an issue. We have best IT experts in Pakistan. If there is a will there is a way.
if a fourth world country like india can do it, why can't we ?
When considering the E-voting and internet voting opitons, I hope the expats in non-professional category are not being ignored !
I just hope that the final proposal / procedure to vote for expats is not Red Tape Bureaucratic and it is not discriminatory for expats originating different parts of Pakistan bearing valid IDs whether computerized / mannual document in original!
All this is possible if the CJ does not accepted stupid excuses from NADRA and the ECP. Fakhru Bhai has been a serious disappointment on this front. He needs to act in the best interests of ALL the voters.
If nearly 10% of the total voters are not allowed to vote then how can the elections be considered to be fair? This I the bigger issue.
Also, 1 or 2 million dollars is nothing compared to the 15 billion dollars sent by overseas Pakistanis.
All the excuses being given by the ECP and NADRA are feeble and trying to stop people from voting. Sick really!
@S.R.H. Hashmi: maybe you should not ask the overseas Pakistanis to send money to the country either until the next elections. Would that be ok?
We overseas are desperate to hear this news, so we can vote. Everyday, minute is spent with the thought that we will be eligible to vote, but every time we are being said " some errors" in mechanism .
@mohsin: ""Even the third world countries like India, Sudan and Philippine are using electronic voting system, whats your excuse." Because the first world country Pakistan is not prepared for it.
Vote by mail isn't very hard but does take a long time to setup properly to mitigate fraud issues - something you don't have time for. In the short time frame you have why not at least do the basics - allow voting at the embassies - isn't perfect and maybe PIA for some but at least you give people the chance to vote.
Why don't they have a postal system with thumbprint on the form? Voting can be 10 days early to give time to send forms to embassy/consulate. Nicop forms are also similar and work via post.
I think the matter is being over complicated. My solution is simple, let overseas Pakistanis' vote in one na constituency e.g Islamabad. Anyone with Nicop card can vote at an embassy.
"Options which involve the internet are prone to hacking and misuse".
Entire worlds financial institutes are based on internet and they are making these misleading statements. As if this manual voting system is pretty safe and transparent. Even the third world countries like India, Sudan and Philippine are using electronic voting system, whats your excuse.
They are not sincere. Let them take lesson from all overseas egyptians who have the youngest democracy and all of them voted in their respective emassies.
ECP and politicians are not intrested t give this right to overseas pakistanies. These are jut silly accusations only. Let ECP take help from Egyptian governament.that how they managed all overseas egyptian to vote in their espective embassies.
Cannot beleive, a heavy weight and heavily budgeted institution like ECP is making such lame excuses. Seems more like a 10 year old kid who do not want to do his homework. All US nationals voted 3 months ago in UAE. Embassy in any country in geographical part of that country, you can do whatever you like to inside the boundary and local government rules do not apply to you. Space??? Are you kidding me?? really? Saudi is not a small country and population is spreaded and not all of them would come and vote at the same time. This is illogical and irrational stance by ECP. Show some willingness to implement what NADRA proposed and am sure there will be a lot of work-arounds. Oversees,Paksitanis deserve an equal right to have a say in the political shaping of our country as we contribute enormously to our economy (pick up the latest remittance figures). @ S.R.H. Hashmi sahab, no sir we do not understand your problem? If countries that are rated way below us in BMIs IT infrastrcture ratings then why cannot we do it. Doesnt seem like an impossible task to me (given we are brimming with IT skills and talents)
Some people in Nadra and ECP have hijacked this issue and want to cover up their imcompetence with excuses to ensure this does not happen.
Considering the overall situation as explained in the report, and taking into account the level of inefficiency and corruption of our people, I think the sensible thing to do would be to apologize to our overseas brothers and sisters, make a promise to include them in the next elections and start preparing for it right after the present round so that a sound system is designed, tested and ready, well in time for the next general elections. Though terribly disappointed, I am sure the Overseas Pakistanis will understand our problem. I think this course would be infinitely preferable to the one of embarking on the project in a spirit of adventure, despite clear warnings, and messing up the whole thing, to the annoyance of all and to satisfaction of none, or perhaps one.
Karachi
This issue was raised more than a year ago. Have they been sleeping so far?
essential overseas pakistanis get right to vote...agree hire a hall for three days in different locations...these guys send billions back to pakistan, give generously to charity, come and do relief work in times of natural disasters...they deserve all stops pulled out to facilitate their voting
Voting for the recent elections of Egypt and the Phillipines were held here in Saudi Arabia without any problems for right of assembly for political activities. Anything done at the missions whether consulates or embassies are allowed even if the country they are in prohibits those actions by law. This is no excuse! Pakistani expats deserve the right to vote in this election as this is a game changer for Pakistan. do not delay this at any cost!
Only if these authorities wanted to give overseas Pakistanis the right to vote, they would have put on the table a more practical option on the table. But it seems, like most of our government employees, the inefficient people in ECP and NADRA just don't wanna tire their mind over this. How about developing a simple page which has video submission option in it and all the voters just go there, and while submitting their vote, they show their IDs and faces. Face recognition software is probably the only solution, and in presence of an ID and face both in picture, it is going to be 100 percent accurate. All these votes, when they reach ECP can verified in a matter of minutes.
Dear CJP, have you been sleeping all this while for the Expats Pakistani to cast their vote electronically? Do you expect ECP and NADRA to implement a fully functional electronic E-Voting system just few days before the election date? Let these guys focus on the main elections in Pakistan on 11th May and avoid giving deadlines for practically impossible projects !!
The overseas Pakistanis have all the right to elect their representatives.
The ECP should make necessary arrangements in the foreign countries that overseas voters should be given the ballot papers and cast their votes either by going physically to the respective Pakistani Embassies or the Consulates or they should send the ballot papers through post.
When one cannot cast his or her vote without having a valid CNIC, there is no chance left for any fraud or forgery.
The earlier statement of the concerned authorities that voting in Middle East Countries cannot be held as these countries do not allow any political activity is nonsense and rubbish.
If the talks are taken on the President or Prime Minister level with the Head of Middle East countries, this is 100% possible that overseas Pakistani voters can exercise their basic right to cast votes to elect their representatives in Pakistan.
How can government of Pakistan neglect overseas Pakistanis who send remittances and contributing towards national economy and should not have any right to elect their candidates in making the new government?
In my opinion, the date of election should be rescheduled so as to give the overseas Pakistanis the right to vote, so that overseas Pakistanis should not feel they have been neglected.
Rent a big hall and let people vote there in each country, not everyone will come to vote and that too at the same time! come on guy!
Countries like Libya, Tunisia and Egypt all gave their expats in GCC the right to vote and the Masri expats in Saudi were the single biggest reason that MB won Egyptian elections. Please don't give us this excuse.