Reforms stressed to restrict Nazims’ influence in electoral process
By Saad Saud

ISLAMABAD—Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad Wednesday called for reforms in the electoral laws so that influence of Nazims in the electoral process could be restricted. “The country needs reforms in electoral laws to restrict the Nazims’ to refrain from influencing the electoral process especially during the conduct of polls.
As our electoral laws are based on recommendations prepared by Lord Minto Commission in 1911, Pakistan should gear up working on reforms in the electoral laws with the help of civil society organizations, political parties, bar council and the media as has been already done in India and Bangladesh,” he said while addressing a symposium held to launch the final report of CMD International Observer Group on the polling process in Pakistan.
Seeking proposals form the civil society and the media in this regard, Dilshad said the media had played a ‘crucial and positive role’ and the recent elections would help the country bring at par with the first world democracies. Responding to the question raised by CMD observers on the redressal of complaints filed by the loosing candidates, the Secretary said the ECP has constituted tribunals who would dispose of al the complaints within four months time.
Terming the elections ‘a historic and landmark achievement’, the Secretary ECP hoped that all the political parties would be satisfied with the performance of the ECP to ensure free, fair and transparent polls in the country. “The election have laid a foundation for a true and strong democracy in the country this would help make the country a progressive, democratic and prosperous country,” he said and added that the local and international observers have termed the polls ‘free, fair and transparent’ which is a unique achievement of the country.
He said the Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon, US President, and leaders of the international community have also hailed the conduct of fair polls in the country. Thomas George Houlahan, senior fellow of Center for Security and Science, Washington, and member International Observers Group of the Center for Media and Democracy Pakistan (CMD) termed the February Polls in the country as ‘the best elections Pakistan has ever had’.
Addressing the gathering, the distinguished US think-tank said that in some ways,the recent elections in Pakistan were even better than the elections held in the western countries. “For example, in United States, in general elections, the display of each and every ballot to party agents during ballot counting would be more or less unthinkable. Rather, the party agents are not been allowed into the room where the ballots are being counted,” he said adding that the presence of local and international observers in such a high number and the monitoring by a broadened media made it impossible to conduct any electoral anomaly.
“Due to the steps taken by President Musharraf and the ECP made the polls the best election the country ever had. Now this is upto the new government to take the country ahead on the path of progress and prosperity,” he said. Chairman CMD Ayub Munir urged the ECP and judiciary to take appropriate and immediate action on all the complaints lodged by the loosing candidates with substantial proof of alleged irregularities in polling process or counting of ballots.
“To improve the voters’ turn out, the observers noted that voters’ education program needs to be expanded and should be made more neutral. They noted that pre-election press advertisements from Election Commission and other ministries urging Pakistanis to vote carried a photograph of the President and was prominently displayed. This is not a statement of neutrality by any measure,” he said.