Election Preparation

WHO will get to vote, and will the Election Commission be able to protect that vote? The new chief election commissioner was sworn in yesterday, and these are the two major issues he should focus on before the next polls. As many as 20 million Pakistanis of voting age the majority of them women are estimated to have been unregistered in the draft electoral rolls revealed in March. The other major problem was registration of citizens at the wrong addresses, especially migrants registered in their hometowns. What is important now is that the time is taken to fix these flaws if they still exist in the updated rolls due this month so that no citizens especially women, migrants and young people who have recently turned 18 are disenfranchised. There has been a general hurry about this, with the ECP, in part pushed by the Supreme Court, rushing to draft rolls, producing a flawed list and missing several self-imposed revision deadlines. But if the new list is also flawed, the ECP needs to ensure citizens have an easier way to check and correct their status this time by increasing the number of display centres and making the process more efficient. In the worst case, if problems are widespread, it may have to conduct another door-to-door exercise. But ensuring that all citizenshave the ability to vote is worth the effort.

There is also the issue of the ECP`s authority over polling staff. Brought in from the local bureaucracy, they are not subject to disciplinary action by the commission. Nor does the ECP have the authority to transfer or discipline administrators, such as those from Wapda or the police, who can influence outcomes in their areas.

Electoral reforms to address these issues have been praised in the Indian context, but they are languishing somewhere between the ECP and parliament in Pakistan, and now is the time to pass them. There are other issues with staff too both polling staff and many returning officers are under pressure from local politicians. Posting them outside their districts, or appointing more lower-court judges as returning officers, are alternatives to look into.

Much progress has been made since the last election. Linking electoral rolls to Nadra data has reduced duplication and will allow more reliable identification of voters.

We now have an ECP and a CEC appointed by consensus between the government and the opposition. But these improvements are not enough. More people need to be able to vote, and the commission needs to be empowered. It is worth taking the time to do this before the country goes to the polls.