THE pilot project for e-voting by overseas Pakistanis in the by-elections on Sunday has gone smoothly and, as it turns out, the most distinctive feature of the experiment was the tepid response by potential voters. Out of 632,000 overseas Pakistanis eligible to vote in the constituencies where the by-polls were being held, only 7,419 — a little over 1pc — registered to cast their ballot. And from among these, on polling day itself, 15pc did not exercise their right of franchise. While Section 94 of the Elections Act 2017 empowers the ECP to explore the feasibility of e-voting by expats, the electoral body had expressed reservations about handling such a mammoth task — involving an estimated 6m-plus eligible voters — within the short span of time available. A report by a task force set up by the ECP listed a number of challenges — the risk of software failure, including security concerns such as the possibility of foreign intelligence agencies hacking into the system, and the fact that secrecy of the ballot and exercise of free will could not be ensured.

For these reasons then, it was sensible to settle for a pilot project which would entail smaller numbers; perhaps it would have been even more prudent to initially test for vulnerabilities in non-political elections, as suggested by the task force, and scale up gradually. Fortunately though, the exercise went off without a hitch. However, there are several points to note in the aftermath of this experiment. The most obvious is the miniscule number of overseas Pakistanis who registered for e-voting — in fact, for a particular constituency in Balochistan, only one voter signed up. Granted, low turnout is a feature of by-elections in general, but given this was the first time that overseas Pakistanis had access to e-voting, courtesy a landmark decision by the Supreme Court, one would have expected a more enthusiastic response. One could even argue that their eagerness to participate in the electoral process had been overestimated. However that may be, the right of expats to cast their ballot must be supported and furthered through improved outreach, particularly to those who do not have the requisite literacy and computer skills to navigate the process of e-voting. There are now five years before the next general election is due: the ECP must take this opportunity to build on what it has learnt from its pioneering attempt at e-voting.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2018