Electoral System of

Pakistan
BY JAVERIA ZAFAR
Democracy
 Democracy, is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power
directly or elect representatives from among themselves to form a governing
body, such as a parliament.
 Democracy is referred to as "rule of the majority".
 According to political scientist Larry Diamond, democracy consists of four key
elements:
 Replacing the government through free and fair elections.
 The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life.
 Protection of the human rights of all citizens.
 A rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.
Election
 Elect means "to choose or make a decision"
 An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an
individual to hold public office.
 Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative
democracy has operated since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the
legislature, sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for regional and local
government.
 Elections are integral to democracy. It is not possible to think of a democratic
political system without free, fair and transparent elections because the notion of
primacy of people cannot materialize without providing them with a fair and free
opportunity to elect their representatives. Any judgement on the quality of
democracy begins with the evaluation of electoral process and then other
criterion are applied to judge its performance in terms of governance, political
management and delivery of election commitments to people.
 Elections manifest aspects of human behavior and help to identify the factors and
considerations that shape their political dispositions and voting preferences.
There are deep rooted primordial identities like ethnicity, language and religion
that influence the way people articulate their political sensitivities. These factors
influence elections.
 Elections produce nationwide mobilization of people by competing political
parties. The electorate of so many crores of people, participate in the election,
and send their representatives to both the Parliament and the state legislatures,
expecting that these representatives will safeguard their interests and work to
attain the goal of progress, prosperity, unity and integrity of their country as also
to ensure rights and freedom of the people.
 Elections are important because the people participate in elections to choose
their representatives. They should have the necessary education and wisdom to
elect only the right kind of people. As it happens in many democracies, including
Pakistan, the impostors and swindlers take advantage of the poverty and
ignorance of the people and contest elections to cash in on the gullibility of them.
Electoral System

 Law and Constitution:

 The preamble of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973 states.
‘’the state shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the
people’’
 Since its establishment in 1947, Pakistan has had an asymmetric federal government and is a
federal parliamentary democratic republic.
 The Constitution of Pakistan more broadly and briefly defines how general elections are
conducted under Article 222-226.
 No Person shall, at the same time, be a member of, both houses (National Assembly and
Senate) or a House and a Provincial Assemblies.
“A general election to the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly shall be held within a
period of sixty days immediately following the day on which the day on which the term of the
Assembly is due to expire, unless the Assembly has been sooner dissolved, and the results of the
election shall be declared not later than fourteen days before that day.
Election Commission of Pakistan

 Election commission of Pakistan (ECP) established in 1956, the constitution of Pakistan held
responsible ECP for administration of general elections in Pakistan. The Constitution of
Pakistan states that:
“For the purpose of each national general election to the State Parliament (National
Assembly) and to a Provincial legislature (Sindh, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and
Baluchistan) an Election Commission shall be constituted in accordance with the Article 239G.
It shall be the duty of the Election Commission constituted in relation to an election to
organize and conduct the election and to make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure
that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that
corrupt practices are guarded against.”
 The Election Commission comprise of the Chief Election Commissioner as its chairman
(who is a judge or/ retired judge of the Supreme Court) and four appointed members from
each four provinces, each of whom is a judge of four High Courts of the four provinces; all
appointed by the President by constitution.
Procedure
 Voters: Voters cast their votes to elect candidates.
 Political Parties: A political party is an organization that seeks to influence, or
control government policy, usually by nominating candidates in elections.
 Independent candidates: An independent candidate is a person who wishes to
stand for election and is not chosen by a political party.
 The Returning Officer is the official who is responsible for how the election is run
and declares the result.
Levels of Elections  At the national level, the people of Pakistan
elect a bicameral legislature, the Parliament
 Parliamentary Elections of Pakistan. The parliament consists of a
 Assemblies Elections lower house called the National Assembly,
which is elected directly, and an upper house
 Senate Elections called the Senate, whose members are
 Presidential Elections chosen by elected provincial legislators. The
head of government, the Prime Minister, is
 Local Government Elections elected by the majority members of the
National Assembly and the head of state, the
President, is elected by the Electoral College.
In addition to the national parliament and the
provincial assemblies, Pakistan also has more
than five thousand elected local governments.
1. Parliamentary Elections

 Parliament: The Parliament of Pakistan, is the federal and supreme legislative

body of Pakistan. It is a bicameral federal legislature. Parliament consists of two
houses.
• Senate as upper house.
• National Assembly, as lower houses.
 According to the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the President of
Pakistan is also a component of the Parliament. The National Assembly is elected
for a five-year term on the basis of and one-man one-vote. The tenure of a
Senator comprises of six years but Senate elections held with the duration of
three years.
National Assembly

 The Seats in the National Assembly are allocated to each of Four Provinces, the
FATAs and the Federal Capital on the basis of population in accordance with the
last preceding Census officially published.
 The National Assembly and the Senate both convene at Parliament House in
Islamabad. The National Assembly is a democratically elected body consisting of
a total of 342 members who are referred to as Members of the National
Assembly (MNAs), of which 272 are directly elected members and 70 reserved
seats for women and religious minorities.
 A political party must secure 172 seats to obtain and preserve a majority.
 Currently The National Assembly can not be dissolved by the President of
Pakistan, It is dissolved by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Members of National Assembly
Qualification Tenure

 The constitution details a number of  The National Assembly is elected for a five-
disqualifications in Article 63, which year term on the basis of adult franchise
include mental instability, insolvency, and one person, one vote. The tenure of a
criminal conviction and accepting dual- Member of the National Assembly is for
citizenship or relinquishing their Pakistani the duration of the House, or sooner, in
nationality, among others. case the Member dies or resigns.
 An individual would stand disqualified if  Under the 1973 Constitution, a member of
he or she is found to have opposed Parliament may not hold the office of the
Pakistan's ideology or worked against the Prime Minister more than twice. In the
integrity of the country, after its 1990s, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Shareef
establishment in 1947. proposed a bill to amend the 1973
constitution to allow a Member to serve a
third term as Prime Minister.
Speaker and Deputy Speaker
 After a general election, the National Assembly shall, at its first meeting and to the
exclusion of any other business, elect from amongst its members a Speaker and a
Deputy Speaker and, so often as the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes
vacant, the Assembly shall elect another member as Speaker or, as the case may be,
Deputy Speaker.
 The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the National Assembly. The Speaker
is assisted by the Deputy Speaker. Both officers are elected from within the ranks of the
National Assembly and, by current convention, are usually members of the majority
party. The election of the two officers is the first matter an incoming National Assembly
deals with, as mandated by the constitution. Apart from presiding over National
Assembly debates, the Speaker may also assume the duties of Acting President, if the
position is vacant (in case the President as well as Chairman Senate are not available).

 The current Speaker of the House is Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and the Deputy Speaker is
Murtaza Javed Abbasi, both are from the PML-N.
Functions
 Legislation
 Financial Role
• Pre Budget discussion
• Passing of budget
 Representative Role
 Over sight of the Govt.
Senate

 The Senate of Pakistan is the upper legislative chamber of Pakistan, and together
with the National Assembly makes up the Parliament.
 First convened in 1973, the Senate's composition and powers are established by the
Article 59 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
 Each four provinces are represented by fourteen senators and eight senators from
the tribal areas regardless of population, who serve staggered six-year terms.
 The Senate secretariat is located in the east wing of the Parliament Building; the
National Assembly convenes in the west wing of the same building.
 The Senate has several exclusive powers not granted to the National Assembly,
including the powers of making parliamentary bills as a being enforced into law.
Elections are held every three years for one half of the Senate and each Senator has
a term of six years. The Constitution does not allow for the dissolution of the Senate.
Seats

 The Senate shall consist of 104 members, of whom:

• 14 shall be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly;
• 8 shall be elected by direct and free vote from the Federally Administered Tribal
Areas
• Two on general seats, and one woman and one technocrat including aalim shall
be elected from the Federal Capital .
• Four women shall be elected by the members of each Provincial Assembly;
• Four technocrats including ulema shall be elected by the members of each
Provincial Assembly.
• One seat in the senate is reserved for minorities in each province."
Purpose and Role

 The main purpose for the creation of the Senate of Pakistan was to give equal
representation to all the federating units since the membership of the National
Assembly was based on the population of each province. Equal provincial
membership in the Senate, thus, balances the provincial inequality in the
National Assembly.
 Senate consists of:
• Chairman of the senate
• Deputy chairman
• Leader of the house
• Opposition leader
2. Presidential elections

 The President is elected in a presidential elections. In an indirect election, with the

winner being determined by votes casts by the electors of the Electoral College.
 The electoral college is composed of elected senators, members of the national and
provincial assemblies. The President is , head of state, and merely a figurehead
with the executive powers granted to Prime Minister, by the Constitution.
 The Constitution grants right to both men and women to run for the presidency as
it states that a presidential candidate must be a Muslim, not less than 45 years of
age, and a Member of the National Assembly can contest the Presidential election.
The President is elected for a term of 5 years.
 It is the duty of Chief Election Commissioner to conduct elections to the office of
the President in a special session of Parliament and all the Provincial Assemblies in
accordance with the provisions of Second Schedule to the Constitution.
Provincial Government

 The four provincial governments of Pakistan administer the four provinces of

Pakistan. There are also two territories and two disputed regions which have
similar governments but with some differences.
 The head of each province is a non-executive Governor appointed by the
President, on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Governors play a similar role,
at the provincial level, as the President does at the federal level. Each province
has a directly elected provincial assembly, with members elected for five-year
terms.
 Each provincial assembly elects a Chief Minister, who then selects a cabinet of
ministers from amongst the members of the Provincial Assembly.
 Each province also has a High Court, which forms part of the superior judiciary.
3. Local Government Elections

 In order to decentralize administrative and financial authority to be accountable

to Local Governments, for good governance, effective delivery of services and
transparent decision making through institutionalized participation of the people
at grassroots level, elections to the local government institutions are held after
every four years on non party basis by the Chief Election Commissioner of
Pakistan.
 Members of Union Council including Union Administrator and Vice Union
Administrator are elected through direct elections based on adult franchise and
on the basis of joint electorate. However, for the election to the reserved seats
for Women in Zila council proportionately divided among Tehsils or Towns shall
be all members of the Union Councils in a Tehsil or Town. It is the responsibility of
the Chief Election Commissioner to organize and conduct these elections.
 The 2001 Local Government Ordinance provides for devolution of government to
district administrations. (Districts are the third tier of government, being sub-
divisions of provinces). Each district administration is headed by a District
Coordination Officer (DCO) and a Zila Nazim.
 The District Coordination Officer is the administrative head of the District
Administration. They have wide-ranging responsibility for overseeing, improving
and directing the approved plans of the District Government.

 The Zila Nazim used to be the executive head of the District Administration until
2010, when the government gave their powers to the District Coordination
Officers also. Their role is similar to district governor, with responsibility for
implementing government strategy and developing initiatives arising out of it
Past Elections

 1 elections : 1954 ( indirect election) =PML

 2 elections : 1962 ( indirect elections )= PML
 3 elections : 1970 = AML
 4 elections : 1977 = PPP
 5 elections : 1985 = PML
 6 elections : 1988 = PPP
 7 elections : 1990 = PMLN
 8 elections : 1993 = PPP
 9 elections :1996 = PMLN
 10 elections : 1997 = PPP
 11 elections : 1999. = PMLN
 12 elections : 2002 = PMLQ
 13 elections : 2008. = PPP
 14 elections : 2013. = PMLN
Electoral Reforms

 Last elections were held on 11th may 2015, after about 66 years of independence
Highest number of people casted their votes in 2013 elections, about 55% of
total voters. Still there were allegations of rigging by many parties. ECP is
responsible to conduct Elections in Pakistan. Following are the reforms for the
electoral system.

Electoral Rolls: Under electoral rolls, ECP issues list of voters and their place of
voting. Voter should only be allow to cast vote in the area which is mentioned on
their ID cards as Present address. It will make the process easy as ECP would not
require to verify their addresses manually.
 Separate polling days: Voting should be held in different phases throughout the
country, rather then in one day. This will allow Law enforcement agencies to
provide better security environment to all voters. It will also reduce the chances
of rigging.
 Nomination and Scrutiny: Scrutiny of the candidates is very important. Corrupt
or criminals should not be allow to take part in the elections. Scrutiny should be
serious and based on facts.
 Overseas voting: Almost 70 million Pakistanis are living oversees. Sending
important remittances back to the country. They should have right to vote to
elect the future leadership for the country. It will also raise their interest in the
political system of Pakistan. So ECP should take steps regarding that.
 Formation of the ECP: Chief election commissioner must be a non political and
unbiased person. Members of ECP should have proper training regarding the
elections. ECP should have more authority to punish the candidates who breaks
the rules of election by any mean.
 Electronic voting: Many countries in the world, are using electronic voting
machines nowadays. Election commission should also use electronic voting
machines which can help to reduce the rigging. But ECP should also make sure
that Electronic voting machines are not prone to hacking and other cyber attacks.
 Election expenses: ECP should take following steps to make sure that candidates
don’t spend more money than the limit set by ECP. Establish monitoring cells.
Conduct random inspections.
 Appointment of RO’s and DRO’s : RO’s and DRO’s should not have political
background in any case. There should be no pressure on them by any person.
They should held personally liable for any kind of rigging under their supervision.