‘Women voters be given right of double voting’

Islamabad: For genuine women political participation and their role in decision making, former Senator Farhatullah Babur on Thursday suggested direct elections on reserved seats for women by giving women voters the right of double voting so that they can elect candidates of their choice in the Parliament.

He was speaking at the second 'National Dialogue on Gender Gap in Electoral Rolls' organised by National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in collaboration with DAI-Tabeer programme. Moderated by Dr. Attiya Inayatullah, the discussion session highlighted potential strategies and policy recommendations to address the impediments to women’s computerised national identity card (CNIC) registration. The speakers highlighted the urgency to ensure universal registration to close the gender gap in the electoral rolls.

The dialogue featured comprehensive presentations from the commission, Tabeer team and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on steps taken and challenges met in ensuring women political participation in Elections 2018. The speakers said that things improved in terms of women political participation both as candidates and voters in the previous elections but a lot more needs to be done for

Farhatullah Babur was of the opinion since the year 2002, reserved seats for women had served as the extension of male power in politics. He also suggested giving extra credit to the candidates who receive high percentage of women votes in their constituencies and recommended Special Public Prosecutor on issues of violence against women and urged right activists to review FATA Regulation Act to ensure protection of women rights in FATA region.

Eminent activist Tahira Abdullah said that the gender gap in electoral roll would keep on increasing with increasing population. “There are around 3,500 girls that turn 18 years of age every day in the country. Even If we partially cover the past gap, the gender gap will keep on increasing every day,” she pointed out. She stressed for affirmative actions for women empowerment unless level playing field is available for women.

Dr. Inayatullah emphasized that since it is mandatory to have a CNIC to appear on the voter’s list, it is binding on government institutions to ensure a universal list of voters through proactive CNIC registration. She also called for the ECP to develop a gender inclusion strategy to streamline and priorities future efforts.

NCSW Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz called for the ECP, NADRA, political parties and the government to work together to facilitate the CNIC registration of millions of women of voting age missing from the electoral rolls. She acknowledged efforts made to register women voters for the 2018 General Election, but stressed the need to continue to make electoral processes more inclusive.

In his opening remarks, Secretary, ECP Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad said one of the organisation’s key priorities was to ensure the inclusive electoral participation of women, transgender persons, persons with disabilities and members of minority groups. He was of the opinion that the non-acquisition of CNICs was the single greatest impediment to excluded groups’ right to vote.

Additional Director General (Gender Affairs), ECP Nighat Siddique stressed upon the urgency to close the gender gap in the electoral rolls to ensure that no voice is left out of the electoral process. The ECP’s voter registration campaign supported by DAI-Tabeer and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2017 registered some 4.3 million women prior to the General Election in 2018.

DAI-Tabeer senior advisor Mukhtar Ahmed Ali and Sector Expert Adnan Rafiq presented a study on the institutional barriers to women’s CNIC registration, explaining that women face systemic impediments in the process of getting their names on the electoral rolls due to the legal requirement of CNIC possession for voter eligibility. They said proactive implementation of gender-sensitive legislation governing electoral assistance was integral to the meaningful participation of women in democratic processes.

Director, NADRA Ali Javed, said that NADRA was open to recommendations raised in the discussion to increase women’s voter registration. He requested the ECP to share block-wise electoral rolls data with NADRA so it may compare with census data to identify target area for registration campaigns. The event was closed by Team Leader, DAI-Tabeer Amir Khan Goraya.