Well aware of the challenges awaiting the new chairman of the top electoral body, the newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Sardar Raza signalled his resolve to step up to the challenge.
“There are so many challenges,” admitted the new CEC while fielding a question during a brief chat with reporters after taking oath of his new office on Saturday.
Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk who administered the oath had good words for Raza. “Under the present circumstances, appointment of a non-controversial person as CEC is a very positive development,” the CJP said in his brief remarks.
After appointment of Raza as CEC, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) finally has a permanent head after a long gap of 16 months.
His appointment came at a critical time when opposition parties, especially Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, have expressed distrust over the role of the country’s top electoral body in the last year’s general elections.
PTI is on the streets since mid-August this year to protest what it calls massive rigging in May 11, 2013, general elections which brought incumbent ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in power.
Other than rebuilding the tarnished image of ECP, the new CEC has many other issues to deal with during the next five years. The most important of which is holding of LG polls in three provinces which have always been dragging their feet on one pretext or the other since the last LG system expired in 2009.
He will also oversee the proposed electoral reforms currently being taken up in the parliament which would include many core changes to fix the stale election system in the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2014.
1713904359-0/burn-(1)1713904359-0-270x192.webp)
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ