Winner takes all

Now that we have the Judicial Commission report there is a need to address the shortcomings in our electoral system pointed out in the findings. Why is there a hue and cry after every election, especially by the losing side? Is it because we do not have a big heart to accept our defeat or is there something inherently wrong with the present system where losers always end up crying foul play?
According to the ECP website, the PML-N, the PTI and the PPP polled 14,874,104; 7,679,954 and 6,911,218 votes, respectively, in the last election. These figures indicate that the PTI despite getting more votes has less seats in parliament compared to the PPP that got fewer votes than the PTI. In another analysis the PTI got 17 percent of the popular vote but could get merely 10 percent of the general seats. There can be occasions where a party, despite securing 50 percent of the total votes polled, may not have a single seat in parliament. This can happen only in the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system followed in our country. No wonder Imran Khan has some genuine grievances against this deeply flawed system. A much fairer and well tried-out system of election prevalent in more than two dozen countries is that of proportional representation wherein political parties are given legislative representation in proportion to their share of the popular vote. In this system every vote counts. The parliamentary committee on electoral reforms should consider proportional representation.
Cdre (r) Sajjad Ali Shah Bokhari
Islamabad