Expat voting: Finalise procedures so expats can vote: SC

Court told that minor amendments were needed to enable overseas voting.

Our Correspondent April 12, 2013

The attorney general is confident that expats can cast votes while the director general ECP pointed out a few problems.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed confidence that the Election Commission of Pakistan and other government departments would finalise a procedure to facilitate voting by overseas Pakistanis in the upcoming general elections.

Director General ECP Syed Sher Afghan submitted a report before a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, saying that certain formalities, including minor amendments on existing laws and permissions from a few countries, especially those in the Middle East, needed to be taken before expatriates could cast votes.

Appearing on behalf of the federation, Attorney General Irfan Qadir informed the court that the amendments could be passed, and a minor legislation can be formulated by passing an ordinance.

Qadir said that since the National Database and Registration Authority prepared a software for e-voting, and that almost all expats held National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis and machine readable passports, voting could be carried out in a smoothly.

The attorney general also said that since everything was already tabulated, with just a little more effort, expats could cast votes.

The director general ECP, however, wasn’t fully at ease and pointed out a few problems. He told the court that the commission will have to make arrangements for the polling staff to visit foreign locations, adding that it would take at least three to four weeks for them to get visas.

The ECP would, however, take a decision in the light of the apex court’s order, Afghan said. He added that a committee would be constituted to prepare legislation in this regard.

He said that 10 countries, where most of Pakistanis were residing, had been selected to enable voting for expatriates. He added that out of 4.4 million overseas Pakistanis, 3.5 million are residing in Middle East countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2013.