No votes for women

Once again, we have had a situation in the country where not a single woman was able to cast her vote during an election. During local government by-elections held for tehsil and village council seats in two districts in Upper Dir, none of the over nearly 14,000 women voters were able to cast their votes, apparently as a result of an agreement reached just ahead of the ballot between all major political groups in the area. As we all know, such agreements have existed before. While social activists and the National Commission on the status of women called for the most recent by-poll to be declared void and the ECP considers this option, we should keep in mind that there too little has changed over the years. In 2015, in the same area of Dir, a by-poll to a provincial seat was voided by the ECP because of the bar on women. There have been cases in various other areas where bars on women voting have been decided by all political players. It is sad that, as happened in 2015, parties which present themselves as being liberal, including the PPP and ANP, have participated in such agreements. Quite clearly, any party which agrees to a deal barring women from exercising their fundamental right to franchise needs to be penalised severely.

In October this year, the ECP stated it would ensure the registration of all eligible women as voters before the 2018 general elections, and that it would be working in cooperation with Nadra for this. The ECP has also emphasised the role of political parties, civil society and the media to raise awareness about the importance of the vote and women’s participation in it. During the elections, presiding officers will write a report on the participation of women, or lack of it, at their polling centres. The problem is no doubt a deeply entrenched one. It has existed for years and even today the number of registered women voters in Pakistan is some 30 percent less than the total number of registered male voters. As the first step, this has to be remedied. We hope the ECP will succeed in the plan it has laid out to achieve this. It is also crucial that all political parties publicly announce that they will not hold back women voters in any part of the country or bow down to what is called local ‘tradition’ to do so. Depriving women of a basic right is an offence under the country’s law. The ECP and rights organisations must work together to ensure that they can exercise the important right of casting a vote, a right they should be able to use at every electoral booth in the country.