ISLAMABAD: A key federal minister says the government is determined to introduce electoral reforms with or without support of the opposition parties, with PPP Senator Raza Rabbani opposing the Senate vote through show of hand, terming it against the basic spirit behind the creation of the upper house.

Talking to Dawn here on Thursday, federal Minister for Narcotics Control Azam Swati said the government had decided to carry out on its own the legislation for which the opposition’s support was not required.

Mr Swati expressed the hope that the opposition would support them in changing the Senate election method for the sake of transparency as it could be done only through a constitutional amendment for which a two-thirds majority in parliament was required.

“If the opposition parties will not support the constitutional amendment then they will stand exposed before the nation,” said Mr Swati, who had previously served as the parliamentary affairs minister and played a major role in drafting of the legislation needed for election reforms.

Rabbani opposes show of hands method for Senate elections

The major election reforms, according to Mr Swati, are open Senate polls, use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in general elections and granting the right of vote to overseas Pakistanis. He said that for introducing the EVMs and granting the right of voting to overseas Pakistanis, they needed simple majority in the two houses. However, he said, for changing the Senate election method and allowing dual nationals to conditionally contest polls, they required amendments to the Constitution.

Mr Swati said that after approval by the federal cabinet, the government had already introduced the bills in the National Assembly which were pending before the standing committee on law. He said the government had granted autonomy to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), which they had demanded.

He said the government had set Jan 31, 2021 the deadline for handing over the EVM system to the ECP with the international certification. “The election reforms will be a gift to the nation as these will ensure transparency and end election controversies,” he added.

The minister said if the elections of chief minister and prime minister could be held through an open vote, then what was wrong in open Senate elections. He said if the opposition would not support the government’s legislation then it would have no right to talk about the election reforms. He challenged the opposition to have a live public debate with him on the proposed election reforms.

Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani, while opposing the move for open vote in the Senate, said it would entirely alter the scheme of the Constitution.

Talking to reporters here on Thursday, he said that through the 26th Constitution Amendment Bill, the government had suggested an amendment to Article 59 of the Constitution replacing the word “transferable” with the word “open”.

The article in its present form read “election to fill seats in the Senate allocated to each province shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote”, he said.

“One may not have qualms with the objective, to the extent of transparent elections, but in essence the amendment to Article 59 as stipulated in the bill shall change the entire scheme of the Constitution, in as much as it deals with and pertains to the composition and complexion of the Senate,” Mr Rabbani added.

He said the National Assembly had in 1973 included the words “single transferable vote” with a deliberate intent and to give representation of the parties in the Senate in the same proportion as they were represented in the provincial assembly.

He said the purpose was that all shades of political opinion existing in a provincial assembly were part of the mainstream of the federal structure through the Senate, regardless of their strength in the National Assembly, which would not be possible for the smaller parties after the government-proposed change.

Mr Rabbani recalled that the issue had already been discussed in the committee of the whole which made unanimous recommendations suggesting that the name of the voter be written on the ballot paper and the parliamentary party concerned might have access to the said ballot paper in case of doubt of misuse of the vote.

Iftikhar A. Khan also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2020