One of the significant outcomes of Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (PTI) 2014 dharna was the formation of a parliamentary committee for electoral reforms. At that time it was announced that committee will complete its work within 90 days and submit its proposals for amending the laws. PTI was chest beating to claim credit for that committee and promised to champion the cause of the reforms. But the reality turned out to be much different. Almost 18 months passed until a draft election bill 2017 was made public in December 2016. The bill is a disappointment for many reasons. First, it does not offer any real reforms rather just combines six different laws into one. Second, it lacks vision and understanding of the political environment especially in terms of lack of democratization of political parties and failure of the system to deliver real mandate of the people. This may be either because parliamentarians are incapable, uninterested or intentionally trying to keep the status quo that suits them.
On February 23rd we presented our electoral reforms proposals to address to improve the government draft. These proposals were delivered to almost all members of the parliamentary committee. Senator Saeed Ghani PPP, Senator Mushahid Husain PML-Q, and Senator Farhatullah Babar PPP promised to seriously consider these proposals. National Democratic Foundation endorsed these proposals as well. Pakistan Kissan Itihad (PKI) which is very active in rural Punjab also assured their support for it. We studied proposals of PILDAT, FAFEN, National Democratic Foundation, and Pakistan Visionary Forum as well as suggestions of other political parties. Unfortunately, most of the proposals developed by these think tanks focus on logistics of the election rather than its philosophy and empowerment of people. For instance, almost every political party and think tank has criticized ambiguities of article 62 and 63 of Pakistan Constitution but none of them propose to amend it. Everyone agrees that political parties have become dictatorship and family enterprises but none of them proposed how this can be changed. There is widespread concern that party tickets are awarded based on cronyism and nepotism, especially reserved seats for Women, but no one came up with suggestions to improvise on it. If wives, sisters, and relatives of MNAs and MPAs have to give reserve seats for women then how does this help solving women issues and does it not then violate the basic principle based on which these reserve seats were mandated. At every Senate election, there is news that MPAs engage in trading of their votes for monetary benefit but we still refuse to address it in any reform proposals. These are some of the areas that were lacking in most proposals and were addressed by our recommendations.
First-past-the-post election process return candidates with just 13-15% of registered votes. This has made the system highly manipulative as it is easy to control a small portion of total votes through control of state machinery, baradari pressure, and monetary inducements. We have proposed that half of the general seats to national assembly be filled through proportional representation and half through territorial constituencies. We have also proposed a minimum 5% votes by a party to be eligible to get seats in the national assembly.
Our proposal, that is now endorsed by National Democratic Foundation, include amendments to article 62 and 63 dealing with qualifications and disqualifications of candidates. We propose that ambiguous terms should be replaced with tangible criteria that are quantifiable and measurable. Article 63 A gives dictatorial powers to party heads. We have proposed it to be amended so that powers to recommend de-seating of a parliamentarian are with Central Executive Bodies of the political parties. We propose that election for Senate general seats should be through direct votes in each province while reserved seats are given to political parties based on proportional representation in provincial assemblies.
To introduce democracies inside political parties, we have proposed that all political parties should submit their intra-party election plans to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and then detailed reports about the actual election being held. Party members should have the right to petition ECP if parties violate their election plans submitted to the regulatory body. Political parties should also be required to submit their due process for the award of tickets including criteria for candidates, nomination process, and adherence to the party constitution. Party members should have the right to file a petition with ECP in case parties violate due process in their ticket award process.
To ensure free and fair election, we have proposed that minimum three months before the date of the election the electoral rolls should be closed and certified copies provided to all candidates. Any variations in election rolls on the Election Day should be a cause for cancellation of polling at a station. We have also proposed that location of polling stations should be finalized minimum 30 days before elections as last minute changes cause confusion among voters and candidate volunteers. Election records should be protected and delivered through a vehicle guarded by paramilitary personnel.
It seems political parties are not interested in meaningful electoral reforms that have a deeper impact to strengthen people trust on democracy. This means civic pressure has to be created on political parties to introduce structural reforms that strengthen the voice of the people in all democratic institutions and state decision making. If we fail to introduce better reforms then a historic opportunity will be lost to take this nation further on the path of progress.
Electoral reforms are gong to shut the door for crooks and thieves. Bar for PTI and JI perhaps leaders of political parties will nevr endorce such an idea, they will be shooting themselves in the foot.
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