The new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) will be appointed in consensus with all political parties, Prime Minister (PM) Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Tuesday Responding to phone calls in television programme “Prime Minister Online”, co-hosted by Pakistan Television and Dunya TV, Gilani said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) wanted to ensure free, fair and transparent general elections in the country. He further said that the timing of the next election can be discussed after the presentation of the Federal Budget in May this year.
He said this was a break from prior tradition when Presidents used their discretionary powers to dissolve assemblies, the PM alone will decide when elections will be held. About right of vote to overseas Pakistanis‚ he said the matter is subjudice but that he desired the right be granted. On the issue of the appointment of NAB Chairman, Gilani said the NAB Chairman is appointed by the President in consultation with the Leader of House and the Leader of Opposition.
On the subject of new provinces‚ he said a constitutional amendment in the parliament will be introduced after consensus. He said separately homework had been done to evolve consensus on Seraiki province but the clubbing together of the Hazara province by MQM has made a difference.
Replying to a question‚ Gilani said the economic indicators of the country were moving in the positive direction and the World Bank had appreciated that these were progressing comparatively better than other countries.
Gilani said he had made a comprehensive statement on the floor of the National Assembly on the state of the economy but no one seemed to have wanted further discussion on the subject.
Gilani said the government is broadening the tax base and 700,000 new tax payers had been brought into the net.
He said instructions had been issued to the Ministry of Finance and the issue of circular debt will be resolved soon. He said the power outages were due to the under-utilisation of existing generation capacity.
He said immediate‚ medium and long term projects are being undertaken to resolve the power crisis. Gilani said 3434 MW of electricity had been added to the system and additional projects will be completed during the year. He said work on the Diamer-Bhasha dam‚ Thar coal project‚ import of gas from Iran and Turkmenistan and import of LNG was in progress.
Responding to a question‚ Gilani said that PPP Government had reinstated sacked employees and regularised the services of contract employees.
