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August 11, 2005
A futile exercise?
The first phase of nominations for the local body elections is over. In Sindh 27,838 nominations have been filed, out of which 6,148 are women. The number is significant in view of the political polarization, apprehensions of violence and reduction of seats in the union councils. The seats reserved for women in a union council have been reduced to four instead of six, despite strong protests from women’s organizations.
Women can contest on two peasant/worker seats and on four general seats for Muslims, while one seat is reserved for the minority. One may question the discrimination meted out to the minorities, inspite of the joint electorate system. One seat is reserved to guarantee minimum representation. Why they have not been allowed to contest from the six general Muslim seats i.e. four for men and two for women is anyone’s guess.
I personally think that Muslims do not need any specific allocations and it is highly undesirable to restrict minority members from contesting on these seats. They are equal citizens of Pakistan and it is an infringement on their constitutional rights. A number of minority groups have complained against this discriminatory process and the Election Commission needs to take urgent steps to redress it.
In the last local body elections 2000-01, the longstanding demand of women’s organizations for 33 per cent reserved seats was accepted. It was a big challenge to get 40,000 women candidates to contest from all over country –– especially in a patriarchal society like Pakistan.
To convince men to allow women to enter electoral politics, a massive campaign was launched by many civil society organizations. Their teams went to small towns and villages in Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and NWFP to mobilize women candidates. Their other tasks were to fill out nomination papers and educate voters.
Nearly 37,000 women contested the elections and were elected as union councillors –– the lowest unit of local bodies. This was supposed to be non-party elections but most of the candidates belonged to one party or the another.
Here the question arises, why should it be called non-party elections when the involvement of political parties is very obvious. In Karachi, the major tussle is between MMA and MQM for the control of the city government. There have been complaints of undue pressure and high-handedness by the administration from Pakistan Peoples Party, a major contestant in Sindh and PML(N), which need to be investigated to ascertain the truth.
Kidnappings of the candidates, forced withdrawals and unopposed selections in specific areas are being reported regularly in the media. But so far, the Election Commission has not taken any notice of such irregularities.
Manipulations and unfairness always kill the spirit of elections. If the idea is to get people’s mandate then let them decide in a fair and free manner. Otherwise, why is this futile exercise of elections, which involves a heavy financial drain on the national exchequer, waste of time and work load on the government machinery, being carried out?
In Sindh, the reconstitution and creation of new districts to secure the desired results are being resented by the people. Unfortunately, the practice of taking politically motivated decisions at the top without consulting people and their representatives, continues even now.
This has created frustration, confusion and fear of violence which might result in a poor turnout of voters. In a way, it reflects the failure of a system supposed to empower people. The whole process is marred at its very outset by obvious manipulations by the administration, which include transfers of government functionaries, arbitrary arrests and announcements of many projects in several districts by the ministers, during the public meetings to lure the voters in favour of their candidates.
The only silver lining is the strong stand taken by women in NWFP where they were denied participation in the elections. In 2001, in Swabi and Dir, where major political parties had entered into an unholy alliance to keep their women at home.
This was exposed by the civil society organizations and complaints were lodged with the Election Commission. Some candidates had filed suits in the court, but nothing happened.
This time round women defied the so-called ban and filed their nomination papers. In the last local body elections in the Lower Division only 18 women had filed nominations and 196 seats had remained vacant. This year more than 60 women have filed their papers with the help of civil society organizations and women’s affairs advisors.
The Chief Election Commissioner has warned that elections will be cancelled in the area where women are discouraged to contest the polls. While the womens’ rights organization express their satisfaction and regard this positive step as a major breakthrough in the history of political participation of women, their crucial concern is about fair and free elections. Unless this is guaranteed the whole exercise will be fruitless.
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