PROPOSALS by the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms to resolve operational problems of our electoral system would facilitate fair and free elections. The committee has not proposed systemic reform by changing the electoral formula. It has favoured the present system requiring relative majority of votes to win in a single-member constituency for national and provincial assemblies.

This individual-oriented system of disproportional representation on the basis of a dubious majority is not suitable for Pakistan. Originally introduced for local bodies, this system has localised the body politic of the country.

Many persons elected under this system lacked the quality of national leadership. Votaries of this system should realise that governance of Pakistan is too complex a matter for local influential persons with local bias.

Alternatively, a modified German system of the party-oriented mixed proportional representation on the basis of a genuine majority is needed for Pakistan. With provisions of single-member and multi-member constituencies, it would integrate voter-representative and vote-seat relationships.

Such a system would enhance ability of leaders to steer the ship of the state. Hopefully, better elected leaders would strengthen democracy and block the way for self-appointed leaders of the disappointed nation.

Another model of this system was proposed by famous German psychologist Dieter Nohlen in his book Electoral System: Options for Pakistan(1995), published by German organisation Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Islamabad). He opined that “electoral systems are important elements which mould the structure of a representative democracy.

Taraq Jazy

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2017