By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ruling coalition has named its members for a new parliamentary committee on electoral reform, but the main opposition party is holding back, saying the seats on offer would leave it unable to press its case.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry confirmed that he had received nominees from the coalition parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), though he declined to disclose the names.
The committee will have 30 members drawn from the National Assembly and the Senate, with seats allocated in proportion to each party’s strength in the two houses, he said.
On that formula, the PPP would take seven seats and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the prime minister’s party, ten. ‘The PML-N may have to sacrifice some of its members to accommodate smaller parties,’ Chaudhry said.
The PML-N has shortlisted its own names, but they will go to the National Assembly Secretariat only once the party leadership gives final approval.
Opposition names are still missing. Mr Chaudhry said he had asked Aamir Dogar, chief whip of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), for a list of nominees, but Mr Dogar had asked for more time. Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), the other opposition party, has not submitted names either.
The PTI has objected to the committee’s composition. Mr Chaudhry said he had told the party that every previous parliamentary committee had been formed on a proportional basis. He said he hoped the PTI would announce its decision next week.
Asked what would happen if the opposition boycotted the committee, he said the leadership of the coalition parties would make the final call.
The government took ownership of the initiative earlier this week, formally approaching its allies to join the proposed Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms. It is meant to bring all parliamentary parties, the opposition included, to the negotiating table.
PTI doubts government’s motives
PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said the party was serious about reform, but suspected the government wanted PTI representation on the committee merely to legitimise the process.
‘The government wants to have five opposition members on the committee. With five members, we will not be able to implement our proposals,’ he said.
Any decision, he said, would have to go first to the party’s political committee and then to its parliamentary and core committees. Those bodies met a few days ago, but because of concerns over Imran Khan’s health, their agenda was limited to a single item: his condition. Waqas said fresh meetings would be held within two to three days.
He said the PTI’s position was clear: it wants electronic voting machines and a mechanism to ensure nobody can rig an election. He noted that the PTI had introduced the machines in Pakistan and trialled them.
‘The PTI wants electoral reforms and will become part of any sincere effort,’ he said.
JUI-F spokesman Aslam Ghouri said his party had made no decision on the committee and hoped its executive body would discuss the matter soon.
Seat allocation and talks so far
National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq wrote to the prime minister, the Senate chairman and the opposition leader on 30 October asking for nominations for the panel.
In a telephone call with Mr Dogar on Tuesday, Mr Chaudhry urged the PTI to send names. Mr Dogar questioned what role the opposition could play with such low representation, and proposed the formula used for the 2013 electoral reforms committee. He also asked for an inquiry into alleged election rigging to be written into the committee’s terms of reference. Mr Chaudhry replied that the terms would be drafted after the committee was notified, and that the decision on taking part rested with the opposition leader. Dogar said the PTI would accept whatever Mahmood Khan Achakzai decided.
The PPP has since sent the Speaker its nominations: five members from the National Assembly and two from the Senate.
In a post on X on Thursday, Chaudhry said the PML-N, PPP and PTI would each receive two seats in the Senate’s share of the committee, with one each for the Awami National Party, Balochistan Awami Party, National Party and JUI-F. He said Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar would finalise the membership after consulting the opposition, coalition partners and relevant parliamentary leaders.
PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that if Parliament has decided to form the committee, Mr Achakzai should use his authority as opposition leader to nominate members and submit their names to the Speaker’s office. A PPP delegation met Achakzai in the National Assembly to invite him to join.
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