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We Pakistanis are always discussing two things; cricket and politics. If any of us does not discuss these topics at least once every two days, I start doubting their nationality. So, following and propagating the Pakistani culture, we friends were having a heated debate on the current political situation in the country. And of course, following another national tradition, we were criticizing the class of rulers we elect by casting our votes. We started discussing the individuals we had voted or not voted for in our respective constituencies. We dissected their rise in politics to their family backgrounds, their statements, so on and so forth. And our heated debate of “one up man ship” stopped at the query “how do these people even get elected?”

This, as it turned out to be was a million dollar question. One of our friends took out his phone and from the national assembly web site read out these pre requisites for an aspiring MNA:

He should be citizen of Pakistan
Not less than 25 years of age
His name must be enrolled as a voter in the electoral list
He should also fulfill the qualities provided in Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
After he finished reading, almost all of us said unanimously “that’s it?” the answer was affirmative. All of us went into deep thought. Our contemplation ranging from “man that’s too simple” to “there has to be more” and “what is 62 & 63” “who will define the Article 62 & 63” and “if these guys can pass this scrutiny, it should be a piece of cake for me”

Then the argument erupted on a level not known to us before that moment. What is that they have and we do not that makes them qualify to be in the parliament? The answer was simple: 60 to 70 thousand votes!

The discourse of the deliberations shifted to how those are acquired. All of us agreed, at least for that one instant in the night that its because these are the only options available to voters. These are the only faces they are familiar with, these are the only names they get to read & hear.

And probably the reason for this is advertising campaigns. The massive advertisements on TV, fierce poster pasting, sticker distributing, corner meeting, grip & grin movement that seems super human. And of course, most of these things have a price tag.

Our designated “google boy” searched for the ceiling of spending election commission has given to a MNA for the campaign. The answer was 1.5 million. We all laughed aloud and to the point when our ribs started aching. The answer was obvious. The difference between them and us was that of at least Rs.3 million.

So the question the night wrapped up with was, are we eligible to contest, are we eligible to meet the ‘contemporary requirements’ and are we eligible be a parliamentarian at all?

In 2000, a new citizen registration system was introduced in Pakistan. The new process was handled by a new authority named NADRA. This came as a breath of fresh air, modernization of the most basic of needs of any citizen: their National Identity Card. Our old system was severely outdated, with no readable or computerized biometric record and I am not sure even if it was centralized. The new system, no doubt, sorted a lot of data maintenance issues.

But, as one of the most civilly “responsible” nation that we are, I am sure we still have citizens out there who have yet to get their new ID cards. Although, all of our legal documentation requires the NADRA ids, but still.

The process for getting a CNIC is relatively easy. A one stop shop, if I may be allowed to say so, can provide you with your identity paper in a few days.

A couple of months back, my mother’s CNIC expired and we had to get it renewed. She was avoiding it as she didn’t want to wait in long ques. Believing in the new digitalized process I motivated her to go with me on Friday a day NADRA has specified for female registration only. But I must admit even after giving her a good dose of motivation I myself was curious on the process and if it would make my mother wait for so long. So I consulted our best friend for research- Google on how to get a CNIC.

The process according to the NADRA web site (www.nadra.gov.pk) is as follows:

· Data Acquisition at Data Acquisition Unit (DAU)

Issuance of Token
Photo Capturing
Thumb and Signatures
Data Acquisition by DEO
Form Printing
Attestation & Form Submission
· Data uploading to NADRA Data Warehouse

· Verification and Clearance from NADRA Data Warehouse

· Printing at Production

· Delivery of CNIC to NSRC

Seemed simple enough and to an extent relieved me also. With a time investment of an hour give or take, I took my mother to the female NADRA centre for CNIC renewal.

But minutes after reaching the centre I realized that the website failed to mention, that the authority, being the flag bearer of the same slow paced system of our country, will make you wait for hours, with no proper seating or water or toilet arrangements in their offices.

Being the capitalist society that we are, your anguish of waiting in long queues, is shortened if you pay more. The value of your time is directly proportional to the amount of money you can dole out.

I fail to understand that even after “paying” why one does has to pay. Be it the lines at tax office when filing returns, be it while paying the utility bills, be it when one wants to get petrol or gas tank filled, be it when one has to get a passport or for the matter of this discussion a CNIC. How any “efficient” system manages to do that, I am always baffled. It must take a lot of planning and hard work!

But in case of Pakistan in particular there is one thing in the process I cannot understand- the attestation of documents. I mean NADRA has all the record in one place at the finger tips but will send us to get it attested from a 17 grade officer, whom in most of the cases will have no idea who we are. And the same drill is to be repeated for renewal.

NADRA was formed with the mission to facilitate people, make them feel valued and cared for. To an extent it did serve the purpose, but majorly some loopholes exist.

What is a relief for me is that my mother got her CNIC and I am sure the next time she will have to get it, it would not take much of an effort convincing her. All I wish that next time she doesn’t have to wait for so long and give the data that NADRA already has.

P.S. A note for all you readers is visit NADRA’s website, learn the process, make sure you all have your CNICs, share your opinion to make the process efficient and don’t lose hope!

Pakistan is democratic country that has witnessed intermittent elections due to repeated military takeovers. Due to this, the continuity of political processes, democratic development and institutional building in the country remained a dream. In 2013, country experienced the smooth transfer of power from one democratic regime to another because of hence to supposedly transparent, free, and fair General Elections 2013. Nevertheless, currently Pakistan is witnessing political crisis owing to alleged rigging in May 2013 General Elections invoked by some opposition political parties. The accusations and counter accusations have to be judged by the competent commission. However, the alleged or one can say a possible rigging in elections are mainly due to either non-availability or due to non-implementation of strong and effective legal framework related with electoral processes. The laws related with conduct of elections, political finances, and political parties are name of the few. The democratic development of Pakistan being in transition phase, there is need of electoral reforms that must include the requirement of enactment of new laws for political finance regulations and the steps taken to implement the existing one with letter and spirit. Pakistan legal framework for political finance regulation provides for three things, for instance, the prohibitions, limitations, and disclosure. If we review the existing laws, the legal provisions are either vague or incomplete and if available are partially implemented or mostly not implemented at all. Political parties and individual candidates spend funds on electoral campaign which are not strictly monitored according to law by concerned authority. According to law, as stipulated in sections 5 and 6 of ‘The Political Parties Order 2002, the political parties have to maintain bank accounts for party funds, contributions, and disbursement and to submit to ECP annual record. Similarly, sections 49 of the Representation of Peoples Act 1976, provides for limitation of election expenses to 1.5 million through a valid single bank account for a candidate contesting elections for National Assembly seat and limitation of election expenses of 1 million for a contesting candidate of Provincial Assembly seat. Additionally, section 50 of the ROPA 1976 provides for maintenance and return of election expenses constituted of contributions made and expenditures incurred to returning officers. As a matter of practice, after elections only few of the electoral candidates submit returns to ECP. Nevertheless, the returned candidates have to submit election expanses returns unless their official notification of being returned candidates is held by ECP. But, such returns are not counter verified during or after elections. Resultantly, there are observed several incidents of violations of election laws related with election spending. There is need to implement the existing political finance regulations and to enact the ones that are missing to make electoral process of Pakistan more robust, strong and independent of any influences. The need of enactment of new laws would be covered in subsequent blogs.

“Each Provincial Government shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibilities and authority to the elected representatives of the local government”, says article 140-A of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It has been almost four years since people in three provinces of Pakistan have remained deprived of their representative local governments, one Baluchistan, had LG elections in 2013. Inclusive and participatory government is privy to the definition of democracy and this can only be achieved when people are made part of the decision making process. Pakistan has seen four local government systems, three of them introduced by the dictators who wanted to get their legitimacy by reaching to the masses through local governments. The most visible and eventful, if not successful, was the system of local government introduced by Musharaf regime in 2001. This system was later defunct after the 2008 elections when democratic forces took over and the dictator was forced to resign. Elections in 2008 brought a new era of democratic rule in Pakistan that raised hope of the people for more share in the government but these hopes met with severe setback when the democratic forces failed to install a local government system even after completing a full tenure in office. All the political parties promised local governments in run for elections in 2013 but again it proves to be a long way to go. Establishment of local governments is the responsibility of the provincial governments who have not yet been able to act upon this constitutional injunction in three provinces. Though all the provinces have come up with legislation on local government but elections are yet to be held. There can be no second word on importance of local government, it brings governance to the door step of the people, makes them part of the governance process and includes their wishes in the local decision making. Local governments give ownership of the local resource to the people while making them responsible to resolve their indigenous problems locally. Hence local government empowers people with the resources as well as ability to use these resources for their collective good. The case for local governments becomes stronger when article 140-A comes forth for its endorsement. The incumbent provincial governments of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have not only failed to establish democracy in its true form but it also implies that constitution has not been upheld. If Pakistan has to emerge as a democratic state it must strengthen democracy by implementing the constitutional injunctions and establishing local governments at local governments in all provinces.

For most voters the idea of voting is merely restricted to three primary items: a polling station, a ballot paper and a ballot box. This is especially true for first time voters, whose excitement to caste their vote is often more pronounced than their understanding of the many steps that ought to be considered before and after entering the inside of a polling station.

Much like most first-time voters, my first experience of casting my vote (which should have ideally taken under half an hour) became a three hour ordeal! This happened simply because I had convinced myself that knowing the election symbol of my candidate was all there was to voting – and boy was I wrong!

To help voters in general and young or first time voters in particular, this blogpost will discuss three important questions, i.e. “What is voter education?”, “Why is voter education important” and “What methods are available in Pakistan to facilitate anyone who wants to learn about it?”

Let’s start with answering the first question. Simply put voter education is any effort made by the Election Commission of Pakistan or public or private entity that aims to enhance the understanding of voters of electoral rolls, encourage them to check their details on the Final Electoral Rolls (FER) and supports in improving the voter turnout.

Voter Education is imperative for creating awareness amongst voters of all ages, belonging to all walks of life in order to increase their overall participation. Efforts geared towards Voter Education are often positioned to include the training of general masses, on several aspects of the elections – from campignig to casting the vote.

In the past, Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) efforts for Voter Education were mainly grounded in providing information through conventional print and electronic media, commencing shortly before electoral events and ending immediately thereafter. However, low voter turnout in previous elections highlighted the acute need for a different plan of action. Accordingly, in the recent General Elections held in 2013, we saw that ECP shifted strategy from merely disseminating Voter Information to developing more holistic Civic and Voter Education programs.

And this brings us to our third question, i.e. “What methods are available in Pakistan to facilitate anyone who wants to learn about it?” The ECP’s Voter Education Plan 2012-2013 revolves around a district centered approach, where staff at district offices become important actors responsible for implementing grassroots level voter education activities. Their aim is to directly reach out to all eligible voters, i.e. youth, women, people with disabilities, minorities and men. These groups are important because of their numbers and in most cases also because of their marginalized social status that often excludes them from exercising their right to Adult Franchise.

District Committees use a variety of means to approach and educate different categories of voters. These methods include, District Committee meetings held with community representatives, trainings for school, college and university staff; community voter awareness raising activities; Information Sessions at the offices of Provincial and District Election Commissioners; development and dissemination of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials; public service announcements and media engagement.

In our next blog we’ll discuss all the above mentioned methods, how individual voters can access these resources and benefit from them. Keep reading!

In the previous blog we discussed about the various resources available for education of Voters in Pakistan. Today we’ll talk about District committees and their role in voter education.

The Voter Education Plan 2012-2013 introduces a district centered approach, which endeavors to build a direct relationship between the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and voters through District Election Commissioners’ (DEC) offices and staff. A crucial component of this Plan is the formation of District Committees, which will be coordinated by DECs and supervised by Regional Election Commissioners (RECs). Now let’s take a closer look at how these committees work.

District Committees serve as a forum at the district level where two way dialogues can take place between DECs and multiple stakeholders including youth, women, minorities and the community members as a whole. This forum provides an opportunity to share views, plans and updates, as well as to design and implement joint Voter Education activities that target various voter groups.

The Voter Education plan that was chalked out prior to the 2013 general elections, the District Committee can include but does not have to be limited to regional election commissioner (chairperson), district election commissioner (coordinator), community development department or social welfare department, CSOs (including youth, women, minorities and people with disabilities), representatives of political parties, representatives of local government departments and representatives of the Education Department. In addition to the above, DECs may develop an extensive list of other stakeholders and potential partners in their respective region, who may be invited to join the Committee as members or occasional observers. They may include but are not limited to former and current local councilors; Union council secretaries, District coordination officers; school teachers and college/university lecturers, lady health workers (LHWs), religious leaders, community leaders, tribal leaders, landlords, trade union representatives, journalists and lawyers. In short, any member of the relevant local community can be eligible to be a part of the District Committee – even you!

Before forming the District Committee, DECs may organize introductory visits to these various stakeholders or invite them to meetings at the DEC offices to present the ECP Voter Education Plan and their intention of forming a Committee.

Now that you know what District Committees are, now let’s talk about what roles District Committees Perform? According to ECP voter education plan, the District Committee meets on a regular basis and seeks voluntary participation of various members of the community. They engage community based civil society organizations registered with the district Social Welfare Department to work on Voter Education, seek voluntary support to disseminate voter awareness materials and focus on reaching out to marginalized voter groups in the district, including women, people with disabilities and all minority groups. District Committee also seek the support of political parties in increasing voter participation by developing district specific strategies to increase awareness on the importance of the vote and its impact on the country’s institutions.

In the next elections in your district keep an eye for the formation of the District Committee and play your role in Voter Education!

When we think about voter education, most people assume that it is only the responsibility of Election Commission or the government to introduce activities aimed at making voters aware of their rights and responsibilities. Well, think again – because there’s so much at an individual like you and I can do to promote voter education! In this blog we’ll discuss the many ways and means through which each of us can contribute to community voter awareness raising activities.

There are a miscellany of actions that provide information on election procedures to both current and future voters. Most of them will take position outside the premises of District Election Commission offices. By being part of such awareness sessions, we can learn a whole host of things that we can do to support Election Commission f Pakistan’s efforts to educate voters.

Various activities, depending on our own interest, resources or comfort can be adopted for raising awareness among voters. A typical but very effective activity can be (participating in or organizing) awareness raising walks/rallies. These walks and rallies present a highly visible and participatory way of distributing information. They can take place in villages/townships/cities with students, District Coordination Officers, union council offices, Civil Society Organizations, rights’ activists, trade union members, bar association members, press club members, private corporations, local government line departments and other collaborators. Motivational posters and banners encouraging people, especially voters from marginalized groups, to register and turn up to vote, as well as informational messages developed by DECs can be displayed during the event. Bear in mind that local agencies will have to be approached before the event to receive a no objection certificate and agree upon a path that is both secure and visible. Voter education materials such as stickers, brochures, etc., developed by the Election Commission can also be distributed to community members during the event.

Baithak can be another activity for community awareness as these are community based meetings. Baithaks are very popular in rural areas across Pakistan. Such meetings can be arranged at the village level to share information and educate voters on electoral processes. All categories of eligible voters can be invited to these meetings.

Another activity that can take place with the help of DEC is “Mock Elections Simulate”. Such an activity simulates actual voting and counting procedures at the polling place on Election Day. The aim of the simulation is to present voting and counting mechanisms to the intended audience, by involving them in the process through participatory interactions. The target of the simulation is any group of voters or future citizens.

other activities might include Interactive Presentations and Q&A sessions on electoral processes, for this activity DEC members will have to be invited to visit sites frequented by eligible voters to furnish data on electoral processes and answer related questions from the community.

District Committee members and other stakeholders may help organize and deliver these presentations. Target groups cover all eligible voters, particularly those from marginalized groups such as women, youth, minorities and the disabled.. The presentations may be oral or conducted with the aid of multimedia facilities (where such facilities are available).

Finally, debates, skits and poetry competitions are the most easily conducted activities. Collaborations can be made with DECs and educational institutes. To spread awareness to the broader public, community members may be invited to attend these events at the premises of the institution or students could venture out to conduct the activities at venues frequented by eligible voters from the community, such as arts councils, community centres, government offices, clubs and associations, etc. DECs may facilitate the events by providing educational material, banners, honourary prizes and certificates. Sample topics for the activities can be ‘signifigance of the right to vote’, ‘why have elections’, or ‘need to accept elections result peacefully’.

So there! Now you know how you can become an educator for the eligible voters in your area by dedicating just a lttle bit of your time and energy!

We live in a world where each one of us is bombarded with at least a few hundred messages every day. Switch on the television or flip open a newspaper and there’s one brand or the other selling everything from shampoo to happiness! Out in the streets gigantic hoardings insist why we should try a specific restaurant or a new, improved brand of tea. For those of us who have pre-paid cellular connections know too well the menace of a constantly beeping cell phone owing to “mobile advertisements”. Then of course there is the social media where in addition to the paid advertisements the status updates, tweets and even memes have become a way to disseminate messages aimed either at promoting products and services or inspiring some sort of behavioral change.

Why are we ranting on about the constant flow of messages and media? Glad you asked! In today’s blog we will discuss the many ways and means that media shapes our world view especially vis-à-vis elections – and why it has taken centre stage in the last couple of decades as an important source for educating voters.

Let’s first try to understand why a free and fair media is considered essential for free and fair elections. To cut a rather long dissertation short let’s put it this way: a free and fair election is not only about the freedom to vote and the knowledge of how to cast a vote, but also essentially about processes where voters engage in public debate and have adequate information about parties, policies, candidates and the election process itself in order to make informed choices. It is for this reason that the media is today considered a key actor to democratic elections, which on one hand provides eligible voters with information to make independent choices and on the other hand safeguards the transparency of the electoral process. Thus, a democratic election with no media freedom would make it very difficult to ascertain just how free and fair an election actually was.

Well, as Spiderman says, “With great power comes great responsibility” – thus it’s important to understand that media’s engagement in voter education as well as elections is not a one way road where media agencies only have to gather and provide a bunch of facts. In order to fulfill their roles, the media needs to maintain a high level of professionalism, accuracy and impartiality in their coverage. Regulatory frameworks, such as Pakistan Electronic Media Authority (PEMRA) can help ensure high standards. Such laws and regulations ensure freedom of information and expression while at the same time providing a code of ethics under which media outlets must operate.

The whole discussion about media ethics and regulatory authorities brings us to an important and emerging form of media, i.e. online journalism and social media. Citizen journalism is widely gaining popularity as it has provided average people with the power to share and disseminate information. In the 2013 general elections held in Pakistan we saw how images ranging from huge voter turnout to that of electoral rigging were picked up by conventional media only after they became viral on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

However, since social media is still an emerging phenomenon a lot of information floating around on the internet cannot be verified. It is for this reason that conventional media must be careful before reporting anything taken from social media sources. This is especially important because a prime responsibility of media is to provide the voters with full and accurate information.

Media’s role in voter education is not merely restricted to providing information to potential voters but it also serves as a platform for interaction between the political parties as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the public.

The Election Commission has a need to communicate information to the people and within general public to specific groups including the political parties, candidates, women, youth and minorities. Media then serves as an important tool for the ECP to reach out to its target audiences. Thus, both during the campaign phase and on the day of the elections itself, (much like the makers of shampoos and tea brands), the ECP uses media in a variety of ways to get its various messages through.

On the other hand the media too has a great deal of interest in the ECP. The media is interested in the information that the Election Commission has to provide and at the same time will try to scrutinize the ECP’s performance, efficiency and integrity of the elections.

The same formula also applies on the relationship between the media and various contesting political parties and candidates.

This two-way relationship collectively helps to keep the voters informed, engaged and encouraged to take part in the elections and safeguard against interference or corruption in the management or conduct of the electoral process.

In our previous blogs we’ve spoken about a whole host of topics realted to elections and the voting process. In today’s blog however, we’ll take a break from these subjects and instead talk about two related concepts: youth bulge and democracy.
Let’s first start by understanding what the term “youth bulge” means. The youth bulge is a usual phenomenon in many growing nations, and in particular, in the least developed countries. To explain it in simple words, youth bulge refers to a point in a country’s history where the population of young people (i.e. 24 years or below) stands in majority. Thus, a country that is experiencing a youth bulge will typically have a large share of the population comprising of children and young adults.
Is this good news or bad news? Well, depending on how a country plans – or does not plan – to utilize the high levels of energy associated with young people is what ultimately decides whether a youth budlge should be read as a good or a bad news.
Let’s put it this way: imagine yourself in a room full of children. Now we all know that most children all over the world have three important charectaristics, i.e. they have a lot of energy, are curious and are more suseptable to learning new things. Thus, if we plan a day of interesting activities for these children, their energy can be diverted towards engaging in those tasks and their curiosity will be directed towards learning productive things all day. However, if we just leave them unattended for even a few hours the room is likely to paint a picture of absolute chaos!
This same example is relevant when we discuss a youth bulge, i.e. unless proper planning goes into deciding the best possible ways to nurture the energy and learning tangent of young people, this same youth can drive a country into conflict and civil strife.
Recent empirical studies suggest that youth bulges are associated with an increased risk of violence. However, historical examples of the Asian Tiger states also show that a country can reduce this risk through the provision of opportunities for young people, primarily by providing education. The level of secondary education especially appears to have a clearly pacifying effect on large youth bulges.
While expanding opportunities for education generally pacify youth, however it is equally important to ensure that with expanding opportunities for education, the prospect of employment opportunities also needs to be expanded or otherwise the unemployed youth will become a reason for instability creating a law and order situation.
Now what does all this discussion have to do with democracy? The answer is rather simple! Countries that have both youth bulges and unstable political regimes are likely to enter into long-term conflict as political instability will not allow for policies and planning to effectively utilize the potential of the young population and in the absence of such planning the alienated youth is likely to take justice into its own hands. Most African states are evidence of this hypothesis.
On the other hand, sustainable democracy allows the sitting government to make long-term plans for development that will inevitably take into account such indicators as health, education and livelihood – all of which will then contribute towards harnessing the energies of its young people.
Also, unlike other systems of governance such as monarchy or dictatorship, elections are held every few years in a democratic state, thus maintaining a constant pressure on the sitting government to offer its citizens a better standard of living or face the risk of being voted out. This pressure ensures that governments do not become lazy or take their powers for granted.
Accordingly, a democratic government ensures that development initiatives remain a priority to garner the goodwill of the masses. This in turn ensures that huge projects associated with better education, health and employment generation are constantly being introduced thus ensuring that on one hand the young people are kept engaged through education and on the other hand they become contributers towards development once they grow older.
Former UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, summarized this whole phenomenon perfectly when he said, “No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts off from its youth severs its lifeline.”

After discussing so many different topics related to democracy and the electoral process, in today’s blog we’ll talk about the system of governance currently in place in Pakistan. But before we launch into the whole discussion, here’s a warning: today’s blog will be just a tad bit academic! What’s that we hear? Boring, you said? No, no, we won’t get boring just a little a-c-a-d-e-m-i-c! Bear with us just a for a few minutes of reading and we promise that you won’t be disappointed!
Now without further ado let’s try to understand how the government functions in Pakistan and what processes are followed to keep the system streamlined. The first and most important piece of information that we need to know is that Pakistan follows a system of governance commonly known as “Parliamentary Democracy”. Simply put, a parliamentary system is one in which the executive branch (i.e. in the case of Pakistan its Prime Minister who holds maximum power in the decision making process) derives its legitimacy from, and is held accountable to, the legislature (which is known as the Parliament). Still a little confused? Okay, let’s break it down into steps: in a parliamentary form of government the masses elect a group of parliamentarians. Now these parliamentarians can belong to different political parties or can be individuals. Once the entire Parliament is elected, two or more people are nominated from among the parliamentarians to be elected for the Prime Minister’s seat. The parliamentarians caste their votes and select one of the candidates for the most powerful position (or the executive branch) in the government, i.e. the Prime Minister (PM). The PM is thus dependent on the Parliament for being elected and the Parliament holds the PM responsible for his/her performance throughout the 5 years of his/her tenure. The executive and legislative branches are thus, interconnected and have to work closely woth eachother to ensure efficient and effective governance.
Another fact that is important is that the Government of Pakistan is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan. While we will be discussing the concept of “federalism” in greater detail in the coming blogs, just for understanding the federal government is responsible for governing all the four provinces of a the country, which together form the State of Pakistan.
Further, the government itself is composed of three branches: executive (led by the Prime Mnister), legislative (which forms the Parliament), and judicial (headed by the Supreme Court). The Parliament by passing new laws or amending existing laws defines how each of these branches of governance will function.
Here, we also need to understand that Pakistan consists of a bicameral Parliament. In simple terms this means that the Parliament is divided into two branches, i.e. the National Assembly (which forms the lower house) and the Senate (which forms the upper house). For any bill to be made a law, usually it is first passed by the National Assembly and is then sent to the Senate for Approval. It is only when both the houses approve a bill that it is sent for the President’s signature.
President’s signature? Feeling a little confused because the President is only suppose to be a figure head without any real executive powers? Well, while it is true that the President is a ceremonial head, he however does enjoy certain powes. For instance, the President of Pakistan can pass ordinances (laws that have not yet been approved by the Parliament but can stay in force for three months after which they will either expire or can be made laws if approved by the Parliament) and his signatures are required on any laws (that the Parliament has passed) before they can be officially enforced.
Now there are so many more elements to the functing of the Pakistani state, however we hope that this will help give you a basic understanding. Do let us know if this was helpful!

In the previous blogs we’ve spoken about how the government is run at the federal and provincial levels. In today’s blog we’ll go further down and talk about the Local government institutions, known as “local bodies” in Pakistan. Before going forward it is important to understand that while federal and provincial governments manage things more at the top tier level, it is in fact the local bodies that manage the day to day running of any district and then the tehsils and even villages within these districts.

In lay man’s language, local bodies are essential grassroots organizations that perform necessary administrative functions at the municipal level. The primary purpose of such entities is to ensure that power to manage financial and administrative matters is transferred to the district, sub-district and community level. The importance (if not success) of these institutions in Pakistan was so profound that even though two non-party-based elections took place for local bodies since their inception in 2001 under the Musharraf regime – and despite the fact that they became largely defunct after 2008 as the National and provincial assemblies reasserted their political power – these institutions now continue to operate under a bureaucratic methodology, and their ultimate control has been vested in the provincial government as per the 18th Amendment (more on the 18th Amendment in our coming posts!).

Provinces like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab chose to reinstate the “commissionerate” system – i.e. a system where a bureaucratic appointee of the government is responsible for the affairs of a district – rather than keep the democratic nature of the local bodies system alive, and hold elections to the post(s) of Nazims (mayors) for various districts.

Despite the fact that local bodies have continued to function as non-representative and centrally controlled bureaucratic entities (instead of evolving into the kind of organizations that would suit the effective administration of each district), the offices and powers of the district Nazim have been re-invested into that of the commissioner or deputy/assistant commissioner (depending on size and population of district) who now administer and control the various departments created under the 2001 local government system: with separate, district-level institutions for revenue collection, law and order, health, education, development, civil defence, etc. By forcing representative officers of local bodies to become dysfunctional during and after 2008, and by installing bureaucratic officers to district-level mayoral posts instead of holding representative elections according to the right of democratic franchise, the post-2008 democratic setup in Pakistan – especially the political parties who vowed to restore real democracy to Pakistan and rid it of dictatorship – eventually ended up combining the new local bodies with the age-old, arbitrary and unrepresentative “commissionerate” system, thereby asserting centralized control over the districts from the national (and after 2010, when the 18th Amendment was promulgated, provincial) bases of government and administration.

In the last few years there has been a growing demand by the masses to re-introduce the election based local government system in which citizens will hold the power to elect their representatives to run the affairs at the local level. The Supreme Court of Pakistan in a judgement has also called upon the government to make the local government system democratic to ensure that democracy takes roots at the community level.

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom-Thomas Jefferson

When addressing House of Commons on November 11, 1947, Winston Churchill said that Democracy was the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that had been tried from time to time, he might have in his mind the opportunities of accountability of the rulers that the democracy provides in greater number in comparison with any other form of government. Since democracy is defined as ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people’, it can be said that a citizen plays a pivotal role in the success or otherwise of the democratic system of government in terms of putting the resources to judicious use for the greater good of the society. In other words, what sets apart democratic system of government with any other form of government is the ability of the citizens to hold their elected representatives and public officials accountable. Furthermore, we can also say that if citizens are unable to hold elected representative and public officials accountable, it would become difficult to distinguish democratic system of government from other forms of government in which rulers are unaccountable to their citizens. So, how can citizens ensure accountability of their politicians and officials and what are their responsibilities in this regard?
At the outset, it needs to be understood that each and every voter should not only cast his vote but should be able to cast his/her vote independently, in secret and with dignity to elect representatives to run affairs of the government on his/her behalf. Furthermore, citizens should make sure that they are making informed choices while electing their representatives. If citizens are able to make informed choices rather than those based on rumors, they will be able to reject those candidates who could not protect their interests and did not work for the greater good of the society or are not qualified for such a responsibility. In other words, democracy is such a system of government that allows citizens to contribute to the public accountability right from elections stage of the democratic process. Are elections only way of public accountability in democratic set-up?
Elections are but just one of many ways of public accountability in democratic form of government. In fact, it is responsibility of citizens to ensure public accountability throughout the democratic process right from one general election to the next general elections. Are political parties delivering on the promises made in their election manifestoes? Are the public resources being put to use in judicious manner? How can public accountability be ensured throughout the democratic process?
Citizens should ensure open and transparent functioning of public bodies. This can be done by putting in place procedures facilitating citizens in having access to information held by public bodies as well as proactive disclosure of information by public bodies. In other words, citizens should ensure first enactment and then implementation of right to information laws. The significance of right to information laws with regard to public accountability can be gauged from the fact that over 100 countries have enacted such laws. Furthermore, need for free, independent and responsible media for public accountability can hardly be exaggerated. That is why press is regarded as the fourth pillar of the state as journalists exercise right to information on the behalf of citizens and serve as watch-dog keeping eye on not only the other three pillars of the state i.e. judiciary, executive and legislature but also on everything else in the society which impacts public good.
This post has barely scratched the surface with regard to the significance of public accountability in a democratic set-up. Furthermore, the essential elements of public accountability need to be discussed in greater detail. For example, if it is important for citizens to cast their vote independently, in secret and with dignity to ensure public accountability, then it also needs to be discussed as to how each voter, irrespective of physical impairments, creed, color, gender and status should be able to do the same. Similarly, how it can be ensured that the media is free, independent and responsible and as to who will watch the watch-dog and how? How can citizens use right to information laws to ensure public accountability in a democratic process? These and other questions will be dealt with in other posts.

Vote by strict definition means a formal indication of a choice between two or more candidates or courses of action, expressed typically through a ballot or a show of hands. It is also termed as a choice expressed collectively by a body of electors, a specified group or an individual. In political terms, it is the right to register a choice in an election to a political office in any tier of government. Derived from the Latin word votum meaning ‘a vow or wish’, in political terms it has transformed its meaning to express one’s desire to support an individual, group or party to carry out an agenda(s) or policy(ies) which an individual voter considers appropriate for the welfare of a certain group, community or a nation. In the modern day political systems, where democracy is the most accepted and established international political standard of governance, voting is the preamble or basic foundation for edifice of such a system. Therefore, in order to have strong and effective democratic system, it must be built on strong and transparent foundations, the credibility of which is not questionable. For this to happen, an independent, free and transparent voting is the only option to ensure a strong foundation for democracy in any system. In Pakistan as well, when we urge the citizens to vote in an electoral process, the objective is to make them a part of the decision making process for the future policies to be implemented by their representatives for whom they have voted for. To realize this objective, the foremost priority is to make the citizens confident about utility of such an exercise. In other words, the voters should have faith in transparency of the exercise as well as equal opportunity for all those who participate in this exercise to get elected so that voter has a variety of choice among the candidate to be voted upon. Now two basic questions arise in such a situation particularly in case of Pakistan. First, whether the citizens have confidence in transparency of voting system so that they are sure that their voting has not been tampered with. Second, whether the voters have enough of variety of candidates to vote for a candidate he considers closest to his ideals to translate the policies as he desires appropriate for the country. Though in some sections of the society, there is a general feeling of alienation with the electoral system and unfortunately it also includes the educated and urban elite, it generates an extremely unwanted reaction by this section in the form of reluctance to vote. There is a strong opinion that those who resort to this abdicating posture are the ones who are otherwise supposed to be most active to mobilize the voters as they are likely to be the future leaders of country. Resultantly, this absence of the educated and politically aware voter from electoral arena in fact gives strength to electoral block of voters who vote on ethnic, linguistic, sectarian and tribal lines. Therefore, those having a broader understanding of the national issues and policies themselves leave the field open for the ones having little understanding of the same by leaving the field open for them. In a society divided on ethnic, sectarian, linguistic and tribal lines, any priority for vote on these lines in fact results in the election of public representatives having the same priorities as well as interests which are translated into the larger policy making of country in the form of physical and legislative development resulting in further polarization of society at the national level. Consequently what we see is that a certain group of individuals who are shortsighted with narrow thinking of just their own or their group’s interests, ultimately prevail over long term national policy formulation with patronization of the individuals having same ideas and thoughts just because they were not confronted by the votes of those who have an understanding to give a policy direction to the country. But why this happens. How can the educated elite be made to realize that by not participating in the electoral exercise, they are in fact facilitating those whom they otherwise criticize for taking wrong decisions and making the country move astray from the desired goals. In fact the trend of criticizing the government policies and decisions by just talking in drawing rooms and discussion forums and not coming out on the voting day is sign of an aversion to speak through their elected representatives. This is akin to a perpetual crime against the future generations by making democracy to fail as they say that to make democracy work; we must be a notion of participants, not simply observers as the one who does not vote has no right to complain.

I often hear people say: ‘what has democracy given us’? It is followed by a tirade against corrupt politicians. The issues and the problems that an average Pakistani faces on daily basis are not because the democracy but because of the lack of democracy. The story of Pakistani democracy is basically a short sentence of democracy punctuated with lots of dictatorships. Furthermore, democracy has not taken root in the country. Even political parties are still in the process of becoming democratic. For example, representatives that we elect for federal and provincial assemblies are supposed to carry out legislative business. However, these members of federal and provincial assemblies get involved in the development work. The development work needs to be carried out by local governments. However, we in Pakistan have not been able to introduce a truly local government system. Democracy is all about providing government to citizens at their door-step and it is only possible through local governments. So, it is not democracy that has failed us. In fact, we have failed ourselves by not putting in place local governments. The day we will have effective local governments, Pakistanis will have better delivery of services from government departments. What is an effective local government? This issue will be addressed in another post.

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I visited my university a few days ago and while passing alongside the cafeteria, I decided to step in and have a cup of tea. While I sat there enjoying the beverage; I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation of young students sitting on the table opposite to mine. The topic was politics and all of the youngsters seemed obviously disgruntled. “What use is all this voting and elections?” One of them said. “It’s just a ploy to fool the citizens”, another responded angrily. The emotionally charged discussion of the students continued as I stood up and, introducing myself, asked the students if I could join them, which they happily agreed to. After telling them about the good times I have spent as a student of the university, I inquired what the cause of their pessimism in democracy was. The students were charged with resentment while speaking about deteriorating quality of life in the country and why it has become futile to vote, as elected members do not comply with their fascinating promises. I could sense an utter state of bitterness and despair as they talked about issues of bad governance resulting into load shedding, worsening law and order, corruption and inflation. Each seemed firmly adamant to not vote in upcoming elections. I decided it was my time to pitch in.
“What role have you played to change the worsening situation of the country?” I inquired. The students were definitely quite upset on my remarks. “What possibly can we do besides going to vote in the elections?” One of them asked. “Democracy and good governance can only be strengthened with the participation of the people, you voted in the elections, right? Now it is time for you to continue on the track and dispel the negative attitude you hold towards democracy”, I said. “If not democracy, then what system of government would you support?” I inquired. The students were silent, which gave me further impetus to continue on. “You should all utilize your right to information to get information from the government departments on issues that concern you or others around you”, I uttered. I definitely had the interest of the students now as I went on to explain that investing in country’s future requires more than just voting every five years and that it entails keeping a vigilant eye over the functioning of the government to ensure that the problems of the country are rectified. Time passed swiftly, as I soon realized that I had to go for my meeting with the university registrar, but I felt good that it has been a productive talk and that I might have informed and empowered these students. The smiles on the students’ faces did tell that their negativity and apathy towards democracy has been torn apart. Armed with knowledge of right to information as a tool for democratic governance, they seemed more empowered to play their roles as active citizens. I believe that I had played my part well.