Consistent with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of free and fair elections in Pakistan, his government is working towards launching an electronic voting system for the next general elections to fulfill the premier’s goal of transparency and impartiality in elections.
Addressing the press post a cabinet meeting, Shibli Faraz, the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, apprised that Prime Minister Imran Khan has given directives to relevant authorities to speed up the process of introducing the electronic voting system.
He further went on to defend Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to introduce an open ballot system in the upcoming Senate elections in March and stated that this will pave the way for an impartial and transparent election process and result.
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In November 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the nation on important electoral reforms in a televised speech. He announced that his government is set to introduce two new reforms as they have the majority in parliament to pass them. The third reform however will need support from opposition parties as this constitutional amendment will need two-thirds of the majority that they do not have.
The first two reforms include launching an electronic voting system and formulating a system that would allow overseas Pakistanis to be able to vote. The third reform calls for holding the Senate elections via open ballot by showing hands instead of the previous secret vote casting.
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In his speech, Imran Khan recalled losing parties’ allegations of election rigging after every election and called for avoiding it in the next elections as both Azad Kashmir and Senate elections are to be held soon.
Election rigging claims are a reoccurring theme in Pakistan’s politics. He called for taking measures and introducing reforms to avoid such a situation which would prevent generating similar responses in the next elections by the losing parties.
“Whoever loses, should accept their defeat,” he said. His committee, comprising of Azam Swati, Babar Awan, Shafqat Mahmood, and Pervez Khattak has worked towards these electoral reforms.
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