ISLAMABAD, June 27 Pakistan Muslim League-Q secretary general Mushahid Hussain has proposed direct election of the president on the pattern followed in France.
Replying to a question during a session of Children's Parliament of Pakistan (CPP), a project initiated by a civil society organisation, here on Sunday, Mr Hussain said that a candidate should get at least 50 per cent of the total votes cast to be declared elected.
The CPP is a project of the Society for Protection of Rights of the Child (Sparc) and aims at providing children with a platform to promote their rights both at national and regional levels.
The PML-Q leader suggested that a presidential candidate should also be required to obtain a certain proportion of votes from each province because the president represented the federation.
Later talking to Dawn, Mr Hussain said his proposal should not be taken as a policy statement of his party. He, however, expressed the hope that his party would support the idea.
He was of the view that the system of direct presidential election would help eliminate corruption from the political and electoral system.
Mr Hussain, who had contested the election against Mr Asif Zardari of the PPP and Justice (retd) Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui of the PML-N in September 2008, said that presidential elections always appeared to be an “auction of assemblies' members” who formed the electoral college.
When asked why did he or his party not present the proposal when the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms was finalising the draft of the 18th Amendment, he said at that time he was sure that the proposal would be rejected.
Addressing the assembly, Mr Hussain said that traditional politicians were fast becoming “irrelevant” and they had no future because the people at large now wanted a new and vibrant leadership which could lead them towards a true democratic culture.
He also came hard on the parliamentarians who had contested general elections by submitting fake academic degrees and said that those who had lied and deceived their voters had no right to represent them at any forum.
“Such crooks have breached the confidence of their constituents, their party and have humiliated the entire parliament and the law of the land.
They have no business to sit in the parliament and the apex court has exposed their fraud,” he said.
Referring to the auditor general's report, Mr Hussain said that rulers had stolen billions of rupees last year.
“Even the finance minister has said that Rs250 billion is being wasted in keeping PIA, Steel Mills, Railways - the white elephant institutions, every year. How the economy of the country could flourish when the national exchequer is being misused in such a reckless manner,” he said.
“However, there are no holy cows in Pakistan today - thanks to the sacrifices made by the independent judiciary and the free media. Everyone has to answer now,” the PML-Q leader said.