Resisting change: ECP drops idea of e-voting in next polls

Poll body also opposes proposal of giving overseas Pakistanis right to vote

ISLAMABAD:

In what appears to be a regressive move, the top polls supervisory body has proposed dropping the idea of introducing voting through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at least in the next general elections.

Top officials from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday told the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms that there were various ‘technical issues’ that would bar the electoral body from introducing EVMs.

Earlier, ECP officials had been blaming lack of legislation in implementing the proposal. It needed amending the law to change the voting method from manual to electronic.  The ECP had announced it would go for e-voting in the next general elections due in 2018.



However, when the proposal was about to be realised, the ECP backed out. After this move, ECP’s much-trumpeted proposal to ensure transparency in voting under its second five-year reforms programme appears to be dying a premature death.

During Wednesday’s meeting of the subcommittee of the bipartisan parliamentary committee on electoral reforms which is finalising a legislative framework to reform the electoral system, the ECP officials cited various reasons urging the panel to drop the proposal from a list of laws that needed amendment.

“There are issues of specifications…. the technology is not foolproof. There are issues of manufacturing of these machines at such a large scale and storing them. We have issues of voters’ education,” one of the officials who attended the meeting told The Express Tribune. However, he refused to share details.

The ECP had been espousing the idea since long. Earlier this year, it resisted the demand from some political parties to introduce biometric machines to verify identity of voters during the local government elections in Khyber-Pakshtunkhwa (K-P). The LG elections in K-P, due on May 30, will be held through traditional manual method.

“I think most of the proposals in our ongoing second five-year plan died after the retirement of last secretary. Most of these plans were his brainchild,” one of the officials remarked.

Zahid Hamid, who heads the parliamentary penal, told reporters that the ECP has sought time till December to come up with a comprehensive study on EVMs.

He said the ECP has been showing reluctance in switching to e-voting and its officials have cited various technical issues. He said the committee would call technical experts for a briefing before making a final decision. “If EVMs are not feasible, we will improve the existing manual system to ensure transparency,” he added.

Since 2011-12, the ECP has held various demonstrations for EVMs. Many local and international companies have been invited for these demos.

When the ECP was resisting the idea of biometric machines for voters’ identification in the K-P local government polls, it claimed that those machines would be rendered useless after one elections as the commission would be intruding EVMs which have inbuilt biometric system. Many countries, including neighbouring India have been successfully using EVMs for decades.

Resists granting overseas Pakistanis right to vote

Along with EVM, the idea of giving the overseas Pakistanis right to vote also appears to have been put on the backburner. The ECP officials briefed the committee on difficulties in executing the idea. They said in many Middle Eastern countries, where a large number of Pakistanis are living, voting is not allowed under domestic laws.

However, the committee members observed that all the parties wanted to inculcate legal provisions to allow the overseas Pakistanis the right to vote once legal and technical issues were addressed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2015.