Since 1970 every election was accessed of rigging, what electoral reforms will you suggest to improve the electoral system of Pakistan?
Answer
In approximately a month (and few days) from now the U.S presidential
elections will be contested where the American USA nation will elect either Hilory
Clinton or Donald Trump as their President, and the latest sovereign to occupy
the seat at helm of the world politics.
In the days after
the elections, the bottles of champagnes will be popped open at the celebratory
parties, fireworks cracked at the victory marches while the Victor will’ more
to Oval Office as he accepts the massages of congratulations from supporters
and opposition alike similarly in the recent national elections of India in
2014, millions of voters turned up to vote. The politcal parties winners and
losers, accepted the results and moved or meanwhile in Pakistan, the lues and
cries about the unfair election-marred by rigging still resonate through the
political system of the country. And while the case of Pakistan cannot be
compared with the likes of elections in the world’s oldest democracy and the
world’s biggest one, step have to be taken nonetheless in order to insert some
credibility in our electoral and political system if Pakistan is to save face
on the global stage,
The preamble
of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973 states that “the
state shall exercise it’s powers and authority through the chosen
representative of the people”.
Yet, it was after
more than 60 years of independence in 2013, that the Pakistani citizens went to
ballot box in order to transfer power from one democratic government to
another, Although late it is better than never and given the Siginificance of
the onilestone. along with the hopes it has brought it no doubt that
contacting a free and fair election continues to spill ink and occupy countless
minutes of national television debates:-
The unfortunate aspect
of this however, is that while the political electric ragos on there has been
little constructive debates or practical action of any sort= This need for
action is vital even more so due to the fact that our institutional system
works at a snail pace and it would take some time to put any reform in place
before the next general elections in 2018 , The recommendations are however dotten
down below:>
Ø 1)
Election Commission Empowerment:-
The ECP has a
daunting task each time the elections come to pass since it has to manage
one of the world’s largest single-day electoral process This job is further complicated by unique security,
development and social issues of Pakistan, Not only do they have to solve dispute,,
but also have to deploy staff across Pakistan To facilitate the electoral process, this task could be made easier by empowering
the election commission of Pakistan to exercise it’s constitutional authority
over the government entities to ensure they do not get involved without
specific directions from the ECP.
Ø
2)
Separation of polling days:>
One of the lasting
images of the 2013 general elections were those of endless queues of people:
Young, Old and women who waited in the scorching heist to cast their vote This
also play a part in raising tempers and breakout of disputes due to intolerance
of the masses combined with the hectic part of casting a single vote,
Another effect of this is the deterration which is caused among many against
such hassle of casting a vote. What could be done to deal with this is to
spread out the elections over a few days
which would not only eliminate the hassle associated with casting a vote but
also allow the ECP to batter moniter the voting process against any tampering/rigging.
Ø
3)
Electronic Voting :>
A school of
thought in the country is fairly convinced that the only answer to deal with
the wide scale rigging is to introduce the Electronic Voting Machines [EVMs]. There
machines can be developed and tested in a few months, And although there are
concerns regarding political hacking and transparency issues anoing to ever
dependency on machines, such a system is not unheard of as India has made
use of this moreover the plus points reduced casts of no printing of ballot papen and boxes, along with biometric verification eavting one
man-one vote process z the benefits for outweigh the casts and threats of
such a system.
Ø
4)
Electoral Rolls:>
The section 6
of the ERA provides that a resident can exercise his vote wherever he is
resident, And section 7 explain
that a voter will be deemed to be the resident wherever he resident, own immovable and if he owns more the one property,
he has the right to choose the electoral area from which he wants to vote-This proved
to be problematic as it required the ECP to physically verify that each and every
voter was actually residing in a certain area Or owned a house else where.
For simplifying
this a population censes is vital to be held across country which may aid
the ECP to make the electoral rolls .
Ones made the
rolls should be however easily accessible for all voter to ascertain their
voting location,
One may propose
more reforms such as improve in the quality of voting and country along with
the one candidate. One contitvency rule But I feel that the above
mentioned reforms are of greater importance In the end through, One must accept that any system no matter how
good will have flows and opportunities’ to commit deliberate fraud But one
can increase the cast of commiting the fraud by going as close as its possible
to a foolproof perfect system , And Pakistan CAN do that just with a little
effort combined with honest
hearts/intentions..
