The Election Commission of Pakistan’s indication of allowing the overseas Pakistanis - 4.5 million – to vote in the general elections through e-voting would lead towards the kind of participatory electoral process that the country needs badly. This would be made possible through a presidential ordinance expected within a day.
There is hardly any doubt that given their number and because of their world outlook, which is progressive and moderate, they will have a profound impact so far as the election results are concerned. Being done first time ever in the history of the country, it reflects the winds of change blowing away the cobwebs of rather anachronistic electoral trends. That overseas Pakistanis can do a lot for their country and for the growth of democracy is self-evident. Factors such as their education, orientation and living experience in foreign lands can naturally make them choose better candidates to lead their country. Some of these expats include students and professionals; others are blue collar workers, yet seen as a whole, they can turn out to be a positive influence on the polls. As of now, their contribution to the national economy is great; the money they send helps their families back at home and that sustains the economy by boosting up the foreign exchange remittances. The issue is not to be confused with the debate over dual nationals in seats of power. The same logic cannot be applied for the reason that there is a world of a difference between letting a dual national vote and letting him run for Parliament, or worse become a ‘suitcase prime minister’ which as we have seen has had a detrimental effect on the nascent growth of democracy. It is no wonder the Supreme Court kept calling for according the grant of such a status to all Pakistanis in foreign nations.
In the wake of the recent cyber attack on the ECP’s website, there lurks the danger of the Nadra’s e-voting software being hacked, which calls for greater oversight of the entire electronic data. These risks were earlier brought to the Supreme Court’s notice by the ECP reasons why it was reluctant to giving the green signal. One hopes once these procedural pitfalls are sorted out there would be no hurdle to a wakeful mass of expats to exercise their right of vote.