The government and the opposition on December 3 shortlisted three names for the position which has been vacant for over a year now.
Supreme Court had earlier said it will consider issuing contempt notices to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah if they fail to appoint a new CEC by December 8.
Justice (retd) Raza, Justice (retd) Tanvir Ahmad Khan and Justice (retd) Tariq Pervez were the three candidates shortlisted for the post when Ishaq Dar -on behalf of the prime minister- and Khurshid Shah held discussions on Wednesday.
The three names were forwarded to the Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner, of which Raza was the most favourable candidate for the position.
Justice (retd) Raza hails from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and previously served as the civil judge and senior civil judge till May 1976 prior to his promotion to the post of additional district and sessions judge.
He was then made chief justice of Peshawar High Court in April 2000, two years after which he was appointed to the Supreme Court.
Addressing the media following the meeting, Rafiq Rajwana - head of the Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner-said that all parties had been consulted by Shah and lengthy discussions were held with the prime minister.
He went on to say that Justice (retd) Raza had been elected in accordance with the Constitution and as per Article 218.
"It is the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold transparent elections so that no blame can be attributed to the ECP," he added.
When questioned about the absence of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf members during today's meeting, Rajwana said that "as per Article 213, if anyone is absent from the meeting or if there is a vacancy in the committee, it will have no impact on the decision being made."
Further, President Mamnoon Hussain approved the nomination of Justice (retd) Sardar Raza for the position of chief election commissioner.
COMMENTS (33)
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@excalibur:
Absolutely right...hats off to you.
His first honesty test will be how quickly he holds local body election on non-party base if he really cares for the public interest. The sitting governments are full of dis-honest politician who don’t want impartial election of local bodies,in this regard army also remain reluctant to hold election in cantonments.This is the only basic cheating/dis-honesty in our democratic system-for this reason we are constantly facing dilemmas in our society.
@Raghu Probably you dont even know that its not just Gov which decides and appoints CEC. Its the consultation with Gov allies, consultation with Opposition , whose own consultation with other parties, whose own consultation with their core/central committees etc. which took one year.
Probably your prejudice cant see beyond the surface level.
In a country like PK where people cant agree on ONE moon in 65 years you want the Gov to find the most acceptable to all the nation guy for the most important slot.
Good decision
It took more than a year to appoint a permanent CEC. This same person could have been nominated much earlier & time, tax-payers money & controversies saved. But the incompetency of our political knows no bound, yet they all claim to be champions of democracy….why they forced the SC to act. Was this not a normal procedure ? why then blame SC to interfere in executive domain ?
@lalai: yes institution has same very repute, honest person would firstly be fooled and then all weight-age of irregularities would be on the part of honest chairperson,
@MUNIB: yes, every person which would involve in wrong doing would be and should be exposed,if a person have not committed a crime he is considered to be honest,but if he do commit ,then should he not be pronounced as wrong doer, if u call one person a guilty, and when same is committed by other is not called as guilty, i think it is called hypocrisy,
Big mistake almost every one in judiciary has been bought. No way justice can be done.
and The Circus has a new performer now.
@Sonya: "The decision to appoint Raza as CEC seems to be based upon PMLN and PPP’s ongoing hate against Pakistan Army. Justice (R) Raza is famous anti Gen Pervez Musharraf figure. " In the first place there he was doing justice and if he were not it could have been challenged legally. I do not know if it were or not. But legal recourse is available and too bad if some don’t trust the judiciary as a whole. Secondly, if he was making a just decision that does not mean he hates Musharraf. Third, if even for the sake of argument we assume he hated/hates Musharraf then hate against Musharraf does not equal hate against the Army. By making tendentious comments, please do not mislead the readers.
Some commentators have already started disapproving the CEC. One wonders if one should congratulate or express condolences.
Glad this came to a conclusions - Hope now election reform committee also re-instate power into CEC and not make ECP with 5 heads as currently CEC vote and powers are no superior to provincial CEC. This delay was caused by first both PMLN and PPP waiting for CJ Jilani to retire so they could appoint him as CEC, since he is relative to both Yousaf Raza Gilani of PPP and Shareefs, but once he refused due to timely dharna pressure, and now SC pressing muk mukao leaders and on top of timely call for shutter down by PTI, it came to a good conclusion. Hope they don't force him to resign like NADRA chair.
The devil lies in the four provincial ECs who render the CEC useless as per the current rules jointly put in place by PPP and PMLN
Fakhrubhai was the first victim and Raza will end up the same way
Selection of retired justice is accepting fact that complaints of rigging, court cases for disqualification will be there. Can there be other remedy like proper logistics, police bandobast, cc tv in polling stations, neutral observers, counting of ballot with neutral observers. Not allowing criminals to contest ?
@MUNIB: What took the gov one year to appoint him. Have you ever asked this question to the PM? Always blaming IK for everything. Even blame IK for your low IQ.
There are five other jokers sitting in ECP fully sponsored how will he handle them ie four members and a secretary from crooks.
Vert good decision for national interest, but let us see how over confident cricketer cum politicien absorbs this,as his propoganda may deminish if hé accepts this appointment.
His first honesty test will be how quickly he holds local body election on non-party base if he really cares for the public interest. The sitting governments are full of dis-honest politician who don't want impartial election of local bodies,in this regard army also remain reluctant to hold election in cantonments.This is the only basic cheating/dis-honesty in our democratic system-for this reason we are constantly facing dilemmas in our society.
@F Khan: ImranKhan condemns people only & only after their retirement. Look at so many examples he bashed ex-COAS (General Ashfaq Kiyani), ex-CJ (Justice Chaudhry), ex-ECP (Justice Fakhruddin) only after their retirement. Imran Khan was very subservient when these gentlemen were in their respective Offices.
First test would be how he manage investigation issue, even if you keep every proof aside, there is no doubt that fake ink was purchased! There are hundreds of video proofs of rigging too
If this gentlemen has any integrity, he should agree with conditions to make EC an independent & autonomous institution as in India with power, otherwise, he will be just like Fakhru Bhai....
what will do honorable sardar raza, in spite his integrity is above board ,without legitimate power.CEC is key post,whole legislature would emanate under his supervision,so it to urge, power equivalent to chief justice should be delegated to chief election commissioner to take law its immediate course
@roarwali Let him take out the gun, it will be automatically proved.
IK/PTI has no complaints for now... wait until he says he was not consulted and he doesn't agree with this nomination.
@MUNIB: Convince me the "container guy" is wrong. Thanks in advance.
The principle should be....it matter not if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice. Now lets see if that proves to be the case.
It took more than a year to appoint a permanent CEC. This same person could have been nominated much earlier & time, tax-payers money & controversies saved. But the incompetency of our political knows no bound, yet they all claim to be champions of democracy....why they forced the SC to act. Was this not a normal procedure ? why then blame SC to interfere in executive domain ?
he will remain CEC dummy for less than a year wait and watch.
Lets wait to see the Container Guy taking out his gun against this Judge as well
SONYA, there are no elections in Army
Congratulations Sir. Be ready for a lot of abuses in advance.
The decision to appoint Raza as CEC seems to be based upon PMLN and PPP's ongoing hate against Pakistan Army. Justice (R) Raza is famous anti Gen Pervez Mushrraf figure. As part of the bench he termed the petition challenging Pervez Musharraf's candidacy for a second term as president as invalid. Bad news for Pakistanis.
Better late than never. Good selection. At least Khan Sb will have no complaints now. But this only for time being.Next election, 2018 and he loses,Justice Raza will be labelled NS agent from the top of the container.