Government seeks opposition nominees for electoral reforms panel, but PTI questions its composition
The government has formally asked the opposition to nominate lawmakers for a proposed Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms, while the PTI says participation will be difficult and has objected to a composition it says leaves the opposition with too little room.
The government has formally approached the opposition to seek its representation on a proposed Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms, a body intended to make the electoral process fair, transparent and acceptable to all stakeholders.
Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry telephoned PTI chief whip in the National Assembly, Aamir Dogar, on Tuesday and asked him to submit the names of opposition lawmakers for the committee. Dogar confirmed to Dawn that the minister had called, and said the opposition would discuss the invitation at a meeting, with the final decision to be announced by National Assembly Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai.
The invitation is the latest step in a process that began with the National Assembly speaker. Chaudhry said the committee was an initiative of Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, not of the Pakistan Peoples Party, even though the PPP, as a major ally of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, had already approached opposition leaders Achakzai in the National Assembly and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas in the Senate to invite them to join.
On Monday, the minister had already written separate letters to the chief whips of the PPP and the MQM-P in the National Assembly, Ijaz Jakhrani and Aminul Haq, seeking their nominations. Dawn reported that the PPP had submitted the names of its legislators, although those names had not been made public, and that the government would announce the full membership at a later stage.
Under the formula explained by Chaudhry, one committee seat would be allocated for every 16 members of the National Assembly. On that basis, the PML-N would have nine members, the PPP five and the MQM-P one. Smaller parties allied with the ruling coalition would not qualify on their own strength, so the PML-N had decided to allocate one seat each to its smaller allies, including the Balochistan Awami Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Zia, from its own quota of nine seats.
Business Recorder reported a different emphasis in the opposition’s response, saying the PTI had objected to the proposed composition on Tuesday. Dogar, it said, pointed out that 15 government members against just five from the opposition would leave little room for a balanced discussion, and questioned how meaningful reforms could be debated while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and several other PTI leaders were in detention and around a dozen party lawmakers were behind bars or otherwise unavailable.
Dawn’s account carried the same hesitation in broader terms, describing the opposition as calling the formation of the committee a “futile exercise” unless its long-standing demands were met, and quoting Dogar as saying participation would be “difficult” following developments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Dogar suggested revisiting the composition of the electoral reforms committee formed between 2013 and 2018, and examining its structure before finalising the new arrangement.
There was, however, a softer note from another opposition voice. PTI interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan told journalists that the opposition would not object to the formation of the committee if the dialogue was conducted sincerely, a remark that leaves room for negotiation even as the party raises objections to the numbers.
The debate over the committee is running alongside a separate dispute over the appointment of a new chief election commissioner. PPP leader Naveed Qamar blamed the opposition for the delay in appointing a successor to incumbent chief election commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, telling DawnNewsTV that a new appointment would benefit the opposition, which had repeatedly questioned the role of the incumbent.
What happens next now depends on the opposition’s internal meeting. If it agrees to join, its names would go to the speaker, and the committee could be notified with representation from the government, its allies and the opposition. If it stays out, or joins only after its objections over composition are addressed, the government will have to decide whether to proceed with a largely government-side body or to adjust the balance to bring the opposition in. Either way, the argument over who sits at the table has become, for now, as important as the reforms the table is meant to discuss.
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