PPP MPs visit ECP on electoral reforms

ISLAMABAD: PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Senator Sherry Rehman said they had visited to convey to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) their concerns and grievances with regards to the electoral reforms, which should have been debated in the Parliament.

Talking to the media outside ECP, Sherry Rehman said, “We came to meet the Chief Election Commissioner to convey our grievances on the electoral reforms which should have been debated in the Parliament and a decision should have been made keeping in mind the views of all the parties.”

“The bill that this government has bulldozed through the NA is a direct subversion to our electoral and democratic system. The government wants to institutionalise rigging and also to curtail ECP’s powers through this bill,” she contended.

She pointed out that the ECP’s reports on electronic and internet voting were not tabled in the Parliament for the last three years. Instead, the government bulldozed this bill. The ruling party has made a habit of bypassing the Parliament and promulgating ordinances. “For e- and I-voting to be introduced in Pakistan, all our political parties must agree on it but as always, this government has acted with undue and unnecessary haste. It’s ironic that they are talking about transparency in elections when we all know who has been involved with rigging,” she added.

“This and other important bills should not have been passed without the consultation of all political parties but they still they went ahead with it. On one hand the government invited the opposition parties for talks on the reforms but no one was allowed to speak or read or make amendments to important bills. How will Parliament work,” she questioned.

Sherry Rehman said, “It’s shocking that bills were bulldozed through the National Assembly yesterday in a terrible travesty of parliamentary norms, democracy and basic rules of procedure. Did Tabahi Sarkar think this was the last session of the NA that they threw so many bills into one agenda minus any consultation?”

“The government has already made the upcoming elections controversial as everyone has reservations on using the EVMs. These machines can easily get hacked and the vote count can be tempered. This will only make electoral fraud easier. PPP has always been an advocate of electoral reforms and it would make more sense if ECP carried out these reforms. We will never let the government damage our democratic system and will always take a stand to protect peoples’ right to vote,” concluded Senator Sherry. Syed Naveed Qamar and Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, who were also present on the occasion, said the ECP had already expressed its reservations in the parliamentary committee and that the government should let the ECP do its job instead of finding ways to pressurise them.