Islamabad : Pattan Development Organisation and Coalition38 have observed that the recent political upheaval appears to have shaken the citizens’ trust in the nation’s institutions as the ruling elites and outgoing and new governments failed to resolve their feuds through dialogue.
Coalition38 is a large self-reliant platform of CSOs, labour unions, women groups, and individuals created in November 2021.
In a statement, the coalition believed that one of the fundamental factors of the recurring instability in the country is the complete elite capture which lacks public legitimacy.
The new ruling coalition seems to be serious to introduce electoral reforms before the next general election. Pattan in partnership with Coalition38 urged the stakeholders to take full advantage of the current situation to improve the electoral system of Pakistan. Pattan and Coalition38 came up with the following electoral reforms.
It called for adopting a transparent method to select the Chief Election Commissioner and members of the Commission and caretaker governments. The nomination process should start at least six months before the expiry of the incumbent CEC and its members. The CVs of the proposed persons must be made public and the minutes of the meetings held in this regard must also be made public. The same process should be adopted for the setting up of the caretaker government.
The proposals also urged ECP to set up a separate unit at the commission to monitor and report the working of all registered parties in line with relevant sections of the law. The statement also refers to the impact of monopolies when political and economic monopolies overlap, they cause “devastation to governance.” Around 200 families control Pakistan’s politics, legislatures, and almost the same families control business corporations, it said. The statement demands ending monopolies.
After every general election, on average 40 bye-elections are held because some candidates had won more than one seat. It estimated nearly Rs90 million average expenditure on bye-elections. Claiming that contesting elections from multiple seats does not exist anywhere in the world in this form, the coalition calls for stopping the practice.
Citing that nearly 40% of Parliament and 22% of provincial assemblies consist of unelected members, it asks for direct elections on reserved seats. It will help deepen the trust of the people in the system and democracy. It will also diminish the control of party leaders and sycophancy as directly elected officials feel accountable to their constituents too.
Moreover, on average, about 70% of MPs have never obtained more than 20% of the polled votes and no ruling party had ever obtained more than 35% of the polled and 17% of the registered votes in the past nine elections. A mall's popular base of elected representatives (bodies) is one of the major causes of political instability in Pakistan as it attracts incentives to those who are waiting in the wings to replace the incumbent.
But the statement does not give any solution to the problem like making voting compulsory.
