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ISLAMABAD: Polling for national and provincial assemblies on the same day as planned by the government will lead to mix-up and confusion among voters, resulting in wastage of many ballots.
Election experts say voters are not educated enough to correctly cast their votes in simultaneous polling for the national and provincial legislatures. Especially many illiterate electorates would waste their votes.
“Another downside of the same day polling is that voters take a long time inside polling stations to cast their ballots,” an expert, who has worked in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) at a senior position for many years, told The News.
This, he said, causes delays, and many electors may not be able to cast their votes. He added that the polling staff has to stick to the timing fixed by the ECP.
The expert said in the simultaneous polling every voter is issued two ballots, which are considerably long due to the number of contesting candidates, whose names figure on them. Similarly, two ballot boxes are placed in every polling station for the national and provincial assemblies.
However, political parties favouring the same day polling argue that the results of the one electoral exercise, say for the National Assembly, can’t impact the outcome of the second for the provincial assemblies.
But, the expert said, if the polling is held on different days for the two sets of legislatures, the results of the National Assembly, which will be held first, will have influence over the opinion of voters casting their ballots for the provincial assemblies.
Thus, some political parties may face disadvantage in the second polling. If separate polling is held, the party winning the first round will have an excellent edge to fare better in the second exercise as voters generally tend to tilt towards it.
In Pakistan’s electoral history, polling had been held on the same day as well as on separate days with different political parties having offered varied opinions.Of the total nine general elections held since 1970, only three polls were arranged on the same day while six were held on different days for the national and provincial assemblies.
The polling for national and provincial legislatures in the 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990 and 1993 elections was held on different dates with varying gaps.These were held on December 7 and December 17, 1970; March 7 and March 10, 1977; February 25 and February 28, 1985; November 16 and November 19, 1988; October 24 and October 27, 1990; October 6 and October 9, 1993 respectively.
The simultaneous polling for national and provincial assemblies was held only in three general elections - February 3, 1997, October 2, 2002 and February 18, 2008.Federal Law Minister Farooq H Naek recently declared that President Asif Ali Zardari would announce the final date for next general elections and polling for the national and provincial assemblies would be held on the same day.
Experts said that the electoral exercise becomes exceedingly marathon if the same day polling is held. In the case of separate polling, the workload is scattered on two days, which facilitates the process as a whole, and relieves the ECP of massive pressure.
Election experts say voters are not educated enough to correctly cast their votes in simultaneous polling for the national and provincial legislatures. Especially many illiterate electorates would waste their votes.
“Another downside of the same day polling is that voters take a long time inside polling stations to cast their ballots,” an expert, who has worked in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) at a senior position for many years, told The News.
This, he said, causes delays, and many electors may not be able to cast their votes. He added that the polling staff has to stick to the timing fixed by the ECP.
The expert said in the simultaneous polling every voter is issued two ballots, which are considerably long due to the number of contesting candidates, whose names figure on them. Similarly, two ballot boxes are placed in every polling station for the national and provincial assemblies.
However, political parties favouring the same day polling argue that the results of the one electoral exercise, say for the National Assembly, can’t impact the outcome of the second for the provincial assemblies.
But, the expert said, if the polling is held on different days for the two sets of legislatures, the results of the National Assembly, which will be held first, will have influence over the opinion of voters casting their ballots for the provincial assemblies.
Thus, some political parties may face disadvantage in the second polling. If separate polling is held, the party winning the first round will have an excellent edge to fare better in the second exercise as voters generally tend to tilt towards it.
In Pakistan’s electoral history, polling had been held on the same day as well as on separate days with different political parties having offered varied opinions.Of the total nine general elections held since 1970, only three polls were arranged on the same day while six were held on different days for the national and provincial assemblies.
The polling for national and provincial legislatures in the 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990 and 1993 elections was held on different dates with varying gaps.These were held on December 7 and December 17, 1970; March 7 and March 10, 1977; February 25 and February 28, 1985; November 16 and November 19, 1988; October 24 and October 27, 1990; October 6 and October 9, 1993 respectively.
The simultaneous polling for national and provincial assemblies was held only in three general elections - February 3, 1997, October 2, 2002 and February 18, 2008.Federal Law Minister Farooq H Naek recently declared that President Asif Ali Zardari would announce the final date for next general elections and polling for the national and provincial assemblies would be held on the same day.
Experts said that the electoral exercise becomes exceedingly marathon if the same day polling is held. In the case of separate polling, the workload is scattered on two days, which facilitates the process as a whole, and relieves the ECP of massive pressure.
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