He felicitated the newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif but warned him of enormous challenges waiting for the government.
“Congratulations @CMShehbaz on being voted in as PM-elect. Enormous challenges ahead for him & his govt. Wishing him all the best. Our commitment has been fulfilled,” he tweeted after Sharif was elected as the PM.
He added: “We democratically removed selected PM. Onwards to electoral reforms, restoration of democracy & prosperity for all,” he tweeted after Sharif was elected as the PM.”
The new government’s main focus is to bring electoral reforms before the general elections, possibly ahead of the schedule in 2023. The five year-term of the National Assembly actually ends in August 2023 but the new government aims to hold elections much earlier.
PPP leaders told The Nation that the party will help Shehbaz Sharif in removing the Electronic Voting Machines option and hold elections as per the traditional ballot. “The EVM has failed in many countries, so there is no need to try it now in Pakistan. We will remove this option,” said PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira. “The new government is not interested to prolong its rule. We will do what is important to hold elections,” Kaira added.
Another PPP leader Farhatulah Babar said the party will back electoral reforms to ensure free and fair elections..
| Says enormous challenges await govt | PPP to help Shehbaz to remove EVM option for polls
Qamar Zaman Kaira says new govt not interested to prolong its rule
“The EVM was designed to give advantage to the former ruling party (Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf). We will deal with it (eliminate this option) and then go for polls,” he maintained. PTI had been pushing for electoral reforms in the country and do away with the traditional system of counting paper ballots and replace it with EVMs, where a voter can punch in their vote electronically. The previous government had also unveiled a prototype of an EVM machine it aims to roll out for the 2023 national polls.
An EVM does not just comprise a single machine in a polling booth. Instead, the system utilises multiple ‘modules’ that work together to enable the electronic voting process. Going by the number of polling stations, polling booths and voter identification units used in the 2018 polls, Pakistan will need a total of 900,000-1,000,000 of these five different EVM modules to conduct polls for all provincial and National Assembly seats in a single day, which is a requirement set out in the law.
The cost was also not the only headache: to get one million modules by the time the 2023 election swings around, Pakistan will need to produce 3,000 modules a day, and that too non-stop. To operate the EVMs on election day, Pakistan will need to train 300,000 to 500,000 people. The cost for this will come to about Rs 1 billion, assuming the government incurs a cost of about Rs 2,000 per head on training. There will also be a need for technical support, in case a machine malfunctions on polling day.