ECP wants rules for 2013 polls rewritten

ECP asks govt to restructure rules in order to ensure free and fair elections

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked the government to restructure rules and regulations governing the 2013 polls in order to ensure free and fair elections, reveals the five-year Strategic Plan 2010-2014 which was made public by the national electoral body recently.

“It is imperative that legal reforms are enacted as early as possible enabling the ECP to develop regulations, policies and mechanisms necessary to ensure full implementation of the new legal requirements,’’ the Strategic Plan states.

The ECP blueprint cites 22 acts, orders and rules that deserve to be reformed legally. An amendment to the Political Parties Act 1976 is also included in the laws and regulations that require reforms. The plan proposes that overseas Pakistanis be given the right to vote in the general elections, besides recommending preparation of accurate and credible electoral rolls that have photographs of the voters.

It has also been suggested that there should be a linked system between Nadra and the ECP so that when a citizen is registered by Nadra he/she gets enrolled as a voter automatically.

Another legal reform recommended by the ECP plan demands that presentation of Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) be made mandatory by voters and that NADRA should send mobile teams to remote areas for issuing CNICs.

Some political parties have suggested that the number of polling stations be doubled, suggesting the formation of mobile polling stations in order to enhance turnout of voters.

A ban on partisan activities of government officials, mass transfers and announcement of new development schemes after the announcement of elections has also been sought in the plan while the ECP has asked for additional powers of taking action against violators, including disqualification from the election.

The plan adds that during consultations with political parties, it was agreed upon that election complaints and disputes should be dealt with promptly and that the ECP should be able to resolve the disputes instead of sending them to election tribunals. It was also recommended by one of the political parties that election tribunals should be established prior to the conduct of an election and no election tribunal should take more than six months in giving its decision on an issue.

It has also been suggested that political parties should follow a democratic process by conducting internal elections while election observers be given access to the entire election process.

With regards to vote count, it has been proposed that the process should take place in the presence of polling agents and that the count result should be displayed outside the polling stations. Misguiding results given by polling staff should be punishable while the final results should be announced within 8 hours of the closing of the poll, the plan states.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2010.