This year on February 8, general elections were held in Pakistan. According to the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) the voter turnout was 47.6 percent as 60.6 million people participated in this democratic exercise. The total number of registered voters in Pakistan is 128 million, but less than half of the registered voters participated in this democratic process. Despite various media campaigns and security assurances, people were hesitant to come out of their houses and cast their vote. There are many factors that contribute to the low voter turnout on the election day, but one of the issues that is a hindrance in turnout is the old-fashioned way of voting.
In 2021, during the government of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, the concept of electronic voting was proposed in which not only the residents of Pakistan can cast their vote, but the expatriate Pakistanis who are around 9.95 million across the world, would be able to utilize their constitutional right of enfranchisement. However, due to the political divisions it was not accepted by the opposition parties as they raised questions which created doubts in the implementation of a system of E-Voting.
In this general election however, it was observed how an outdated mechanism of voting contributed in creating uncertainty among the voters. For example, at one of the polling stations, there were many people who came without having any prior knowledge of whether their names were in the lists of that polling station or not. The organizing body of elections in Pakistan Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did introduce the SMS facility to check which polling station a voter is allotted to cast vote in, but that was also not free of cost instead it charged Rs 2.5 per SMS and the process is also very cumbersome, like a CNIC holder has to type his or her CNIC number the way it is printed in the CNIC and then send it to 8300, an SMS service initiated by NADRA which informs voters about their polling stations. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s 40 percent population is not literate and around 59 percent resides in the rural areas where there are not enough facilities, let alone having active mobile networks.
However, there are cases around the world which show that the phenomenon of E-Voting is not something new or not tried before. Instead this has already been used and implemented in various countries in conducting free, fair and transparent elections. In Brazil, for instance, the electronic voting system was introduced for the first time in 1996 in one of the state local elections. Since then, it has been proven to be a transparent mechanism which generates quick results. Therefore in the 2010 presidential elections electronic voting was introduced at the national level and this helped in generating results within 75 minutes after the end of the voting process. Similarly, in Canada, France, Germany, Finland, and Estonia online internet-based voting has also been incorporated alongside the physical voting facility.
Elections determine the fate of the nation for the course of the next many years; therefore, it is quite important to formulate a system that can assist in ensuring transparency in this democratic process. But, if such a non-serious political approach continues towards matters of such national importance, then it will be very hard for us to reach a meaningful end in solving pertinent issues, let alone the election process, that are hampering the prosperity of the state.
Our eastern neighbor India has introduced the E-voting mechanism known as Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) Machines all over India after many pilot projects since 2019. The most important aspect of the E-voting mechanism is that it prevents post-ballot rigging and secondly it helps in generating election results within a few hours after the process of voting ends.
However, Pakistan is so politically divided that it could not reach a consensus over the establishment of an electronic voting system. At the National Assembly of Pakistan in August and September, 2021, Senator Shibli Faraz was chairing a session of the Standing Committee meetings of Information and Technology (IT) where, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were discussed quite comprehensively as he called two IT engineers, one each from ECP and NADRA, to brief the committee members. Each and every technical aspect of EVM was explained in detail, but unfortunately due to political tussle the meeting ended without any decision or consensus.
Statistically, Pakistan has a population of 243 million people according to the latest figures issued by the United Nations and out of which 60 percent is between the age bracket of 15 to 64 and 30 percent is below 15 years, so dominantly Pakistan has a youth bulge. The Pakistani youth is actively using or interested in technology. This trend indicates that they must be aware of the usage of the internet, but let alone the usage, the irony is that only 28 percent of the population has access to the internet in Pakistan according to the latest data. In such a scenario how such an efficient EVM system can work, that is questionable.
Elections determine the fate of the nation for the course of the next many years; therefore, it is quite important to formulate a system that can assist in ensuring transparency in this democratic process. But, if such a non-serious political approach continues towards matters of such national importance, then it will be very hard for us to reach a meaningful end in solving pertinent issues, let alone the election process, that are hampering the prosperity of the state. Comprehensive electoral reforms are needed to make the election process more convenient and accommodative to the general masses and for that a political consensus is necessary which is the need of the time.
