Transparency for trust
Transparency is a prerequisite for the credibility of any election and its ability to yield a legitimate mandate for the government. It is, therefore, not surprising that political contenders have…
The majority myth
Under Article 91 (4) of the Constitution, the prime minister is elected by the votes of the majority of the total membership of the National Assembly. Does this article ensure…
With or without a headcount
We don’t know how many we are: 200 million? 180 million? 160 million? Such a basic question remains unanswered. Why? Because successive governments have found one reason or the other…
Stymied powers
Empowering citizens through their locally elected representatives with responsibility, authority, resources and capacity to advance democracy and promote social and economic growth are ideally the objectives of any devolution of…
Rigging charges carry no truth
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has prepared a detailed fact-finding report against allegations levelled against it regarding anomalies in the general elections of 2013. The report will be…
Irritatingly oppressive taxes – I
The National Assembly passed the Finance Bill 2015 amid a walkout by the Opposition during the 13th sitting of the 23rd session on June 23, 2015. According to Free and…
VIEW POINT: LG polls in KPK
The just concluded local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have generated a lot of heat and dust, and a fresh controversy about electoral rigging. The JUI-F, ANP, PPP and PML-N…
Proving rigging
The judicial commission set up to probe alleged rigging in the 2013 elections has started its deliberations. Reportedly the 21 political parties that have approached the commission have been issued…
Enforcing women’s right to vote
If the scandalous exclusion of women from the recent polling in Lower Dir does not lead to enforcement of their right to vote, nothing else will, as this case clinches…
Impatient ambition
The 2013 elections saw Imran Khan and his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), emerge as one of Pakistan’s largest political parties. It won in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province but Khan’s…
