New generation of reforms needed to address new generation of electoral fraud

Laiquat Ali

Islamabad: President human rights cell of the PPP former senator Farhatullah Babar has said that a new generation of electoral reforms was needed to address the latest generation of nebulous electoral fraud and restore confidence of the people in elected representatives and governments.

He said this at the UNDP seminar on ‘next generation of electoral and legislative reforms in Pakistan in a local hotel in Islamabad Tuesday.

Identifying three elements as the latest in electoral fraud he said these were the role of turncoats and floor crossers, systematic manipulation of media including social media and disenfranchising over ten million women voters.

Although independents, small parties and turncoats have always polluted electoral landscape the art had now been perfected as they are used for making or breaking governments, political parties and for giving sham legitimacy to the back-seat manipulators of turncoats.

He said that in 2018 both PPP and PML-N witnessed their members switching sides to PTI.

These lotas then joined hands with PDM government to remove Imran Khan through VONC in 2022.

In 2024 through the same nebulous tactics the PTI was divided into Istehkam Pakistan Party in Punjab, PTI Parliamentarians inPakhtunkhwa and PTI Nazriati in some unknown location.

In the past the IJI was similarly formed and by using slush funds. In 1993 when Nawaz Sharif government was dismissed nearly 150 of the 220 PML-N deserted the Party. When he was restored a month later the deserters returned to its fold.

In 2002 Musharraf midwife PML-Q out of PML_N and also created Patriots out of the PPP..

First the Patriots supported PML- Q and later it merged into it.

The same happened in Balochsitan in 2018 elections when a non party independent MPA was elected as chairman senate. Today few regard the assembly and government of Balochistan as genuinely elected body, he said.

He said that politicians are also to blame as they not only embrace the turncoats but also give them important positions both in the parties and in governments. A new charter should clamp a total ban on turncoats by all political parties he said. The absence of a structured decision making mechanism in political parties is also responsible for this situation..

He said that lately social media and digital spaces are also used to manipulate elections as was done in Brexit referendum in UK & US Presidential elections 2016. In Pakistan the RTS failure in 2018 was also manipulation of digital space.

He said that everyone the political parties, extremist groups and even hyper partisan professional media organizations have manipulated media to discredit opposition, use false amplification, and foment hate and political polarization.

Recently at critical moments private audio/video leaks were employed to influence political thinking of people. He said that the state has done it more than private organizations and recalled that Face book cancelled in 2009 hundreds of pages linked to a government organization that were engaged in political propaganda and had millions of followers.

The elephant in the room is those who promote this culture. To throw the elephant out of the tent the political parties must agree to implement SC 2102 verdict in manipulation of elections by the intelligence agencies and also make legislation to determine the mandate of ISI.