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to hold next elections under supervision of army
female representation in the ECP. There were numerous promises made and
proposals presented before political parties to ensure free and fair elections.
Regrettably, the ECP backtracked on a majority of these promises owing to
lack of agreement among political parties. One such promise was to cancel
election results from constituencies where less than 10% women cast their
votes. The ECP in May held six consultative meetings with stakeholders before
this package was proposed. During a consultative meeting in late September,
however, all the major political parties rejected the proposal, terming it
impractical.
Another backtracked promise was providing overseas Pakistanis with the
right to vote. In February it was announced by the ECP that 3.7 million overseas
Pakistanis had been granted the right to vote though a detailed plan was not
worked out. In late September, however, the ECP decided against providing
overseas Pakistanis with voting facilities. The reason stated was that there
was not enough time to make appropriate arrangements for elections all over
the world. HRCP believes that Pakistanis anywhere should be given the right
to cast their votes since, the matter of right apart, they contribute to the
economy of Pakistan by sending remittances.
Some measures were however taken by ECP to introduce impartiality in
the elections and to make them as free and fair as possible. In December the
ECP’s additional secretary announced that the body will employ thumbprinttracing
technology to avoid irregularities in the polls. If complaints are received
that rigging or other irregularities occurred in certain constituencies, their
votes shall be sent to NADRA for verification. If the votes are found to be
bogus, the election result shall be cancelled and fresh voting shall take place.
Such innovations for fairer elections were lauded by political parties and civil
The ECP had its hands full in striving to ensure free and fair elections.
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State of Human Rights in 2012