Islamabad: Amid fresh charges of election rigging in Gilgit-Baltistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced to introduce the electronic voting system to make the election process fair and transparent.
The government on Tuesday also decided to move a constitutional amendment in parliament to introduce a show of hands during voting in the Senate elections, and to include overseas Pakistanis in the election process.
The idea of reforms was announced to make election process in the country more transparent following polls in GB, where major opposition parties Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) complained about election rigging.
Electoral reforms
Pakistan’s government announced three changes as part of electoral reforms:
• Electronic voting
• Allowing overseas Pakistanis to cast their votes
• A constitutional amendment to make sure senators vote during senate elections through a show of hands.
Reforms to help tackle corruption
Highlighting the benefits of reforms, Imran Khan said the amendment would help address the challenges of election fraud, bribery and corruption in the Senate electoral process. “The show of hands in front of everyone would put an end to the practice of corruption,” Khan said.
However, the premier said that the reform would require a constitutional amendment that requires a two-thirds majority in parliament. “Now it is up to the rest of the parties whether they will support this constitutional amendment,” he said. The current government decided to introduce electoral reforms “because we want fair and transparent elections in Pakistan” the premier added.
Benefits of e-voting
E-voting (electronic voting), refers to computerised voting machines that use electronic ballots rather than paper ones. Electronic voting makes the election process more efficient and secure, reduce costs, maximize, voter turnout, increase voter confidence in the system, and help reduce fraud and manipulation.
Types of e-voting
– Direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines are used to electronically mark and cast votes.
– Ballot marking devices (BMD) or electronic ballot markers that electronically mark and print a paper ballot.
– Online voting or internet voting systems, which allow voters to cast their votes online.
– Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) systems that are based on scanners that can recognize the voters’ choice on special machine-readable ballot papers.