The Hindu : Musharraf may amend conduct of general elections order

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 16, 2002

International

International

Musharraf may amend conduct of general elections order

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Oct. 15. It is five days since the people of Pakistan voted in the general election and there is no sign of forming a government but ordinances continue to be issued by the Musharraf Government.

Within hours after the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, returned from Istanbul after attending the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) summit, it was announced that Gen. Musharraf had promulgated an ordinance related to cigarettes (printing of warning).

There are speculations in the media that the Government is seriously considering an amendment to the Conduct of General Elections Order 2002 to change laws relating to the election of women and non-Muslims to reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies.

Political parties were shocked to learn that Gen. Musharraf had made three significant amendments to the Legal Framework Order (LFO), which incorporated all the constitutional amendments, literally a few hours before the voting commenced on October 10.

The first amendment allowed independents to join any party of their choice within three days of the official declaration of results. Reports said in Punjab province, where the rebel Muslim Leaguers were short of a simple majority by a few seats majority of the independents had joined it.

There was a great deal of confusion about the amendment as it said that independents `may' and not shall join a political party. It is not clear whether that period would commence from the publication of the list of victorious candidates in the official gazette or from the official announcement. The Election Commission had completed announcement of results by the night of October 13 while the gazette notification is expected on October 20.

The second amendment debars forever any person from being elected or chosen as a Member of Parliament or a provincial assembly if he/she is disqualified under any law in force for the time being. ``This provision is bound to be interpreted as specific to Benazir Bhutto and Navaz Sharif and his wife and, therefore, a discriminatory law,'' the English daily, The Nation, noted in its editorial. The third provision relates to extension of the tenure of the judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts by increasing their retirement age. ``The provision to extend the tenure of the judges.... would have been more graceful if this was done by the newly-elected Parliament,'' the daily noted.

Reports in the Pakistani media suggest that another amendment is on the cards in the Conduct of General Elections Order 2002, which will enable all representative political parties in the assemblies to claim their share of reserved seats for women and minorities. A summary to this effect has been forwarded to the Chief Executive's Secretariat for approval.''

The existing mode of elections imposes the condition that only those political parties will be able to claim reserved seats that get at least five percent of the total general seats in the assemblies. The candidates for the reserved seats will be elected through proportional representation from amongst the nominees of political parties.

Only four political parties have been able to secure more than 5 per cent seats in the National Assembly and all the smaller parties have been deprived of their share of the reserved seats. There are 60 reserved seats for women in the National Assembly; 66 in Punjab; 29 in Sindh; 22 in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and 11 in Baluchistan. Similarly, for non-Muslims there are 10 reserved seats in the National Assembly; eight in Punjab, nine in Sindh, and three each in the NWFP and Baluchistan.

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