Electoral system: PTI wins PML-Q support for reform

PPP tongue-tied after Zardari-Nawaz meeting in Karachi.

ISLAMABAD:

The efforts of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to reach out to friends and foes in a bid to demand resignations from members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have yielded partial results.

On Wednesday, a PTI committee had a busy day of meetings, as it contacted the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leadership as well as the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The PTI delegation, which included Vice President Shah Mahmood Qureshi, President Javed Hashmi and General Secretary Jahangir Tareen, were on a mission to form a grand alliance against the government.

As expected, the PML-Q endorsed the viewpoint of the PTI. Although the leader of opposition in the National Assembly, PPP’s Khursheed Shah had demanded resignations from ECP members earlier this week, the opposition party agreed with the PTI to the extent of electoral reforms.

It was perhaps Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s meeting with former president Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi earlier in the day that dampened a favourable response from the PPP.

“We have agreed with the PTI for electoral reforms,” said Shah at a joint news conference after meeting the PTI delegation at the Parliament House. He said the process of reforms was taking time, therefore, it should start at the earliest.

The opposition leader shied away from announcing the actual demand behind the move and it was Qureshi who said, “All political parties are of the opinion that general elections were rigged and that the ECP members should step down.”

After a meeting with the PML-Q leadership, Qureshi said the PML-Q shares PTI’s concerns over the integrity of the 2013 elections.

“Both parties agreed that the current election commission has been unsuccessful in fulfilling its constitutional responsibility of conducting a free and fair election,” Qureshi said. “Both parties agree that [members of the Election Commission of Pakistan] should step down.”

“It has happened for the first time that those who won the elections are also pointing out rigging,” PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said to substantiate his endorsement seeking resignation from ECP members.

Asked whether the PTI’s demand was constitutional, Qureshi said, “We are not asking for dissolution and removal of ECP members. We are [saying] that they have failed to perform their constitutional duty of holding a free, fair and transparent election and that they should step down.”

In response to a question, Hashmi said, “We had given the government one year to improve things but it failed to utilise the opportunity and things were getting worse.”

Committee to review Election Laws

The PTI vice-chairperson announced that a committee was being formed to examine existing laws and to develop a course of action on the basis of the 2013 elections, adding that the committee will also work on developing a national consensus about electoral reform.

He said that the PML-Q has named Senator Kamil Ali Agha and Tariq Bashir Cheema for the committee, while the PTI has nominated Dr Arif Alvi and Shafqat Mehmood. Syed Khursheed Shah from the PPP, however, said his party would announce two members after consultation.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2014.