President Mamnoon Hussain on Wednesday night issued a presidential ordinance regarding local government elections in the cantonment boards, and another presidential order dealing with voting rights of MNAs from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) during the Senate elections.

Dawn spoke to senior legal expert Mohammad Akram Sheikh who explains the difference between an ordinance and presidential order.

Q. What is the difference between a presidential order and ordinance?

A. A presidential ordinance is an emergency legislation. Under Article 89 of the Constitution of Pakistan, “the President may, except, when the Senate or National Assembly is in session, make and promulgate an ordinance as the circumstances may require”.

An ordinance promulgated under this article shall have the same force and effect as an act of Parliament.

The presidential order, on the other hand, is issued under Article 247 (3) of the Constitution for enforcement of ‘existing laws’ in Fata and federal territories. The clause 3 of the said article says, “No act of Parliament shall apply on Fata or any part thereof, unless the president so directs”.

Q. Can a presidential ordinance be promulgated to give voting rights to Fata MNAs?

A. There was no need to issue a presidential ordinance for this purpose as there already exists a law which simply needs to be extended to Fata through a presidential order.

The order withdraws the Statutory Regulatory Order of July 7, 1975, as well as a 2002 executive order — issued by former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf — which gave each tribal senator as many votes as the number of vacant seats - in this case four. Following the withdrawal of the two earlier orders, each Fata MNA will now have only one vote.

Q. What would be the impact of the presidential order on the Senate elections?

A. The presidential order is specifically meant for Fata MNAs. Earlier, each MNA from the tribal areas had the right to cast four votes which has now been withdrawn. In other words, the right of electing multiple senators by Fata MNAs has been withdrawn.

They can now cast a single vote to elect any senator. Choices for Fata MNAs have been curtailed through the new presidential order. — Text by Malik Asad

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

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