Missing governance: Balochistan local bodies put on backburner

Provincial government and election commissioner indulge in blame game.

ISLAMABAD:

The local bodies’ elections took place in Balochistan on December 7 last year, but nearly three months later, there is still no local government in the province.

Local bureaucrats are not hopeful. “The formation of local government in the province may take months and years,” said Sultan Bayazeed, the provincial election commissioner (PEC) of Balochistan.

He cited the absence of required laws as a major reason behind the unprecedented delay in the elections that would bring mayors and municipal, district and union councils into being.

The first phase of the local bodies’ polls for over 7,000 seats was completed on December 7 last year, which elected over 6,500 councillors from the province. By-elections were held during the second phase on January 19.

However, the third and second-last phase has been put on the backburner. In this leg, candidates had to be elected for the 33% of seats for allotted to women and the 15% to various interest groups, including technocrats, professionals, social workers, labourers, youth representatives, minorities and peasants.

The provincial government has accused the PEC for this delay. “The ball is in his court,” said Jan Buledi, a spokesman for the provincial government. He said his government was sincerely committed to forming local government institutions as early as possible. The PEC is waiting for directives by the federal government on the matter.

In counter blame, Bayazeed maintained, “We are ready to hold the elections for the special interest groups as soon as possible, provided the provincial government meets our demands for new legislation,” he told The Express Tribune.

He had been writing letters to the provincial local bodies department to enact the laws by the provincial assembly but to no avail. “The last letter was sent to the provincial government on February 17, but it is pending with the local bodies department as the provincial administrative secretary is on a foreign trip.”

“It may take months and years to complete the third and last phase if the required legislation is not done by the provincial government,” he said, when asked how long it will take the PEC to hold elections. The government was not legally bound to complete the whole process within a fix schedule, he added.

However, the vice president of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) Sajid Tareen advocate rejected Bayazeed’s claim and said the delay in the completion of local government election was within the specific period allowed to the provincial government by law. The law demands the whole election exercise be completed within 75 days, Tareen explained.

He, meanwhile, alleged that the delay on the part of the government was aimed to rig the elections in favour of the four-party ruling alliance. “We have no trust in the election commission,” the BNP(M) leader said , adding that both the provincial government and the PEC are hand in glove in delaying the completion of the election process .

In fact, the Balochistan government, similar to Punjab and Sindh, is not sincere in forming local governments because they do not want to share power with the elected lawmakers. “The Balochistan government has tried its best to avoid the local government elections but it had to hold it under the tremendous pressure of the then chief justice Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhary.”

The provincial government is repenting the decision to hold local government polls as the other three provinces have successfully dodged the Supreme Court and avoided conducting elections, he added.

Tareen said his party approached the PEC on the issue but it could not offer any satisfactory reply on the unprecedented delay.

Jan Buledi, while rejecting Tareen’s allegations, said that his government had no intentions to rig the elections nor were they rigged on December 7. “We are aware of our constitutional obligations and we will fulfil them accordingly.”

Interestingly, the Balochistan government won the appreciation by the Commonwealth to be the first among the four provinces to hold local governments’ elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2014.