close
Friday March 29, 2024

Committee on electoral reforms moving at a snail’s pace

ISLAMABADThe 33-member bipartisan parliamentary committee on electoral reforms is moving in the lower gear even after the end of boycott by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a month back.The reforms agenda does not seem to be a priority for any parliamentary party including even those that have been drumbeating their penchant

By Tariq Butt
May 25, 2015
ISLAMABAD
The 33-member bipartisan parliamentary committee on electoral reforms is moving in the lower gear even after the end of boycott by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a month back.
The reforms agenda does not seem to be a priority for any parliamentary party including even those that have been drumbeating their penchant for them for many months.
The PTI’s termination of boycott of the National Assembly followed by its joining of the committee has not helped pace up its deliberations.
The PTI has been in the forefront in demanding electoral reforms, but they are apparently no longer its preference as none of its senior or junior leader has spoken about the improvement of the election process since long. However, the fact is that the forum was created mainly on its demand just three weeks before the launch of its long march in August 2014 which was later converted into a 126-day sit-in at D-Chowk Islamabad.
After holding a couple of meetings following its creation, the committee mostly remained in a suspended animation for several months waiting for the return of the PTI. When the PTI has joined the body, it is moving at its old slow speed.
Previously, the government was under pressure especially during the sit-ins of the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), but when these camping protesters disappeared, it felt relaxed and is no more pushed to early electoral reforms or anything that Imran Khan stresses. However, it is stated that when political confrontation has remarkably come down, it is good time for all the parliamentary parties to pay attention to promptly prepare the electoral reforms package and get it passed from the parliament unanimously.
In its last meeting a month back, a sub-committee decided to give the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) powers to adjudicate contempt of court proceedings against any official failing to follow its directives. It had completed vetting of proposed changes in the Representation of Peoples Act 1976 (ROPA), which stipulates laws related to conducting elections. The ECP, though has powers of a high court, has always shied away from using them and had been a docile institution. It had been blaming lack of clarity in laws for its submissive attitude.
Although the sub-committee had completed work on ROPA, it is willing to accommodate the proposals of the PTI in their second reading. The main committee having members from all the parties represented in Parliament was supposed to come up in three months with a comprehensive package of reforms containing necessary changes in the Constitution and the relevant laws to revamp the electoral system. The committee was assigned to make recommendations in respect of electoral reforms, required to ensure fair, free and transparent elections including adoption of the latest technology, available for holding polls. It was mandated to suggest draft legislation including constitutional amendments, if any, and ways and means to improve the system of elections and present its report to the parliament.
The committee was formed by the speaker after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wrote a letter to him asking him to constitute the body to propose electoral reforms and a constitutional amendment for the selection criterion for caretaker governments.
According to the present constitutional arrangements, only the leaders of House and opposition in the National Assembly have the powers to decide about the caretaker prime minister during consultations. If they fail to reach an agreement, they will refer their recommendations to a parliamentary committee for decision. If it was also unable to work out an accord, the matter will be sent to the ECP for a decision. In this scheme, no parliamentary party in the outgoing National Assembly has any say in picking up the interim premier. The committee may change this procedure and broaden the process of consultations.
In his letter, the prime minister also referred to two earlier reports, one each by the committees of the two Houses of parliament, which remained inconclusive because of the expiry of the previous National Assembly. The new committee, he added, could draw upon recommendations of the two reports — report of a sub-committee of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs relating to amendments to electoral laws (Oct 2011); and report of the Senate Special Committee on Election Issues (Feb 2013).