The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should re-affirm promptly that election results would not be certified in any constituency where women were barred from voting, urged Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) amid news reports that political parties have agreed to bar women from voting in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
Constituencies that wish to have representation in the Assemblies would be forced by this policy to ensure that women are not barred from voting in any local area, said a press released on Saturday.
FAFEN also recommended that ECP should announce that any political party entering into such agreements in a single electoral area will not have its candidates certified as winner in any election contest in any National or Provincial Assembly constituency.
According to the ECP Code of Conduct, it is the responsibility of political parties to control their party workers, said FAFEN.
Political parties that wish to have any seats in the Assemblies would be forced by this method to ensure their candidates and party workers do not enter into such agreements.
FAFEN has advocated since 2008 that ECP should not validate election results in any National or Provincial Assembly constituency where women are barred from voting in any single electoral area, indicated by 0 percent female turnout at one (or more) female or combined polling stations.
Women’s right to vote is protected by the Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Representation of the Peoples Act, ECP Code of Conduct (Article 20), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, ratified by Pakistan in 2010) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, acceded to in 1996).
ECP should not certify result if women barred from voting: FAFEN
