ISLAMABAD: Coalition for Inclusive Pakistan (CIP) has stressed upon the federal and provincial governments and legislatures to take effective measures to protect the political and electoral rights of marginalized groups, including women, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and transgender persons.
The CIP – a coalition of 170 Pakistani organizations working for the rights of women, PWDs, and transgender persons – put forward the recommendations for inclusive electoral reforms here at a press conference on Friday. These recommendations were aimed at enhancing the electoral and political participation of women, PWDs and transgender persons.
They were prepared in the light of Elections Act 2017 and direct observation of GE-2018 by groups of women, PWDs and transgender persons in federal and provincial capitals. In the presser, the CIP representatives shared the details of these recommendations.
For enhanced women’s political and electoral participation, the CIP demanded to launch voter education campaigns in the areas where female voter turnout remained low during the General Election 2018.
Moreover, the CIP urged the parliament to reform the method of election on seats reserved for women and non-Muslims in National and Provincial Assemblies to ensure equitable regional representation. Currently, most of the legislators elected on these seats represent only provincial capitals or a few major cities.
The CIP also recommended to bind political parties through amendments in the Elections Act 2017 to ensure 33 percent women’s representation in organizational structures of political parties at all levels. The CIP also demanded to increase the minimum limit for women representation in candidates for general seats of National and Provincial Assemblies from five percent to at least 10 percent.
For PWDs’ political and electoral participation, the CIP demanded reservation of seats for them in legislatures. Moreover, it recommended to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to ensure that all polling facilities are accessible for PWDs. It also urged the political parties to establish wings for PWDs and transgender persons on the pattern of women wings.
To improve transgender persons’ political and electoral participation, the CIP demanded the implementation of the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding registration of transgender persons in letter and spirit. In this regard, the CIP members called for constituting district committees to facilitate transgender persons acquiring NICs. The CIP also urged the ECP to separately provide the number of transgender voters in the country and to include transwomen (trans feminine) in female voter lists and transmen (trans masculine) in male voter lists. It also recommended the ECP to include the prefix of Mx. in the election forms along with Mr./Mrs./Ms. for transgender persons.
The CIP representatives also highlighted the difficulties being faced by PWDs in getting NICs and demanded to introduce one-window operation for their smooth registration.
In addition, the CIP stressed upon reducing the nomination fee for candidates to enable marginalized communities – who are also economically less-resourced in most cases – to take part in elections as candidates. It further recommended to declare the act of harassing women or transgender persons as cognizable offence under Section 509 of Pakistan Penal Code.