Executive Summary
Electoral system is a backbone of any nation because of its power to influence the future prospects of a country. In any state around the globe, the government creates a framework for its elections to ensure maximum transparency in the system. Each electoral system is a result of many changes and amendments. The decisions are the outcomes of this system which the people have to face in that electoral term. There are various methods in the world to transform the number of votes into the number of seats. These methods vary in the methodology of calculation of the number of votes secured by the participants and their wins are determined through each method in a different way. These methods are plurality electoral system, majority electoral system and proportional electoral system. Currently, all the countries are using any one of these systems depending upon the demographic factors.
The electoral system in Pakistan has also gone through a lot of changes to be in the form which is applicable today. When the state was founded, bureaucrats had firm control on the state. Military too was in action, but not that much. Due to these conditions, this state got its first President in 1956, Mr. Sikander Mirza. However, Pakistan has seen many ups and downs in his history to reach the current level of electoral system. This state has been through the times of martial laws too. General Muhammad Ayub Khan overturned the constitution of 1956 and the country faced martial laws in 1958. This led to the birth of “Basic Democracy”. Therefore, reelections were held which made him the President again, defeating Fatima Jinnah. The power was given to Yahya Khan by Gen. Ayub. This was not once when Pakistan saw martial law and overturned it. The history repeated itself in 1977 when voted for PPP but the opposition rejected the results and announced boycott. This was the time when Army Chief Zia-Ul-Haq. After Zia’s death, the people of Pakistan got against any kind of military rule.
Ghulam Ishaq Khan was elected as an indirect president as military’s proxy. Army chief allowed Bhutto’s daughter to be the prime minister after signing many contracts. In august 1990, she was dismissed by the president. However, Nawaz Sharif government also didn’t last longer as it was also dismissed by president. In 1999, Musharaf got the reign. He continued with Zia-ul- Haq three-tiered system of local government. The first local elections were held in 2001. In 2002, Musharaf used a rigged referendum to extend his rule for five years. In 2007, the national and provincial assemblies re-elected Musharaf as president. He got dual position of army chief and president. He was elected for another 5 years. His opposition challenged his position legally but it didn’t affect much. In 2007, ECP rejected the Sharif brothers because they were ineligible to stand for public office. In order to have fair elections and votes, ECP founded a computerized electoral roll, but this also ended with many duplicate votes and errors.
The military rule opposition grew stronger; this leads to the end of Musharraf’s martial law. In November, 2007 he did not remain army chief which lead to the removal of martial law on December 15. After this, PPP and PML-N again stood for the elections where PPP won but due to the Bhutto's murder elections were delayed to 18 February 2008. In 2013, PPP ends its 5-year term. PML-N removed PPP ministers from cabinet in 2011. In 2013, parties stood against the corruption and terrorism ad it became their slogan to gain the votes. Results of the elections declared PML (N) as the leaders and PPP stood second. However, PTI emerged as the third largest party under the leadership of Imran Khan. The results were declared on the basis of FPTP. FPTP is currently being used in Pakistan. First Past the Post ensures that winner takes the all. However, if we look into the FPTP system and PR system, it can be concluded that given the current ethno-political societal make up of Pakistan, Proportional Representation System is more qualified for Pakistan and ought to in this manner, be actualized with a specific end goal to guarantee better working of the appointive framework. FPTP is a method suitable for homogenous societies whereas Pakistan is a heterogeneous state. Therefore, many steps have been proposed to blend FPTP with the PR system to make sure that the reasons of inadmissibility of FPTP are overruled and the evil masters are not allowed to sit and rule the parliament.
A convenient populace registration must be directed to lead free and reasonable decisions and to quit Gerrymandering by the gatherings in control. One of the four ECP individuals may originate from lawful sodality, yet having just the previous judges in all the five positions ought not, by any means, be important. Article 140 ought to be changed keeping in mind the end goal to make it compulsory for the commonplace governments to hold nearby government races inside 120 days after the disintegration of past government. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) of e-balloting sort should be presented as pilot extends in Metropolitan urban communities, hence step by step drawing nearer towards their across the nation use with the handling of issues in each stage. Common Society will likewise be utilized to scatter the approach. Vote based systems can just reinforce and succeed if there is a normal audit of the framework and presentation of essential revisions immediately and hopefully, Pakistan will be at a better position to hold elections in the terms to come.
