• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

P A K I S T A N N A T I O N A L A S S E M B L Y R U L E S O F P R O C E D U R E A N D S T U D Y G U I D E Contents 1. Business of the House 2. Topic Area A: Electoral Rigging 3. Topic Area B: Restoration of Student Politics 4. Code of Conduct 5. PNA Individual Portfolio Sadiq Model United Nations 2015 Sadiq Public School, Ahmedpur Road, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. [email protected]; www.facebook.com/sadiqmun +92-062-2877692-4 Introduction The present national crisis and its elements have made us to play by their rules, well, the rules just changed. It’s time to take up the bag of recommendation drafts and to hit the Assembly floor. The Parliament that we are going to make in the mix with all of these politicians you will be allotted wouldn’t be just for representation, but would be for all that competition that resides in you. Pakistan National Assembly is more than just a session anywhere; it’s a mini youth Parliament. A lot is expected from this house of orators, and it’s just more than being leftist and rightist in political point of views. It’s more than being Nawaz Sharif or Imran Khan at the scene; it’s about using your words as the only way out, how you convince is how you get! Be ready, because there is a lot of legislation to do this Sadiq MUN in the PNA. Business of the House This year on the Assembly floor, according to the tradition, two most-pressing National issues have been chosen out for competition. Nothing more than good and competitive debating while being in norms is required. As being a Parliament, it comes within our blood to legislate via dialogue for solving matters as serious as these. This is the beauty of democracy that even there is turmoil, disparity and agitation within the society, this institution (the Parliament) that represents the public in the shape of “People-Power” has dialogue as the only solution. The session would consist of Parliamentary work over the following topics: . Electoral reforms against rigging. Restoration of Student Politics in Pakistan The delegates are expected to research further when preparing for their PNA session. Sadiq Model United Nations 2015 Sadiq Public School, Ahmedpur Road, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. [email protected]; www.facebook.com/sadiqmun +92-062-2877692-4 Topic Area A: Electoral reforms against rigging Despite the obvious fact that 'elections' were the only mechanism to institutionalize the vision of Pakistan's founding fathers; Pakistan faced quite a lot of trouble for not being able to hold general elections at regular intervals. Even when elections were conducted- they lacked fairness and transparency thus putting a question mark on the legitimacy of the people who were returned to the Parliament. A chart is provided below with the details of elections held in the history of Pakistan. Pakistan saw the biggest turn out of its electioneering history for the first time in 2013 General Elections. However, the results of the May 2013 Elections were not welcomed by many, especially by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and its supporters. PPPP, PML Q and Jama’at-e-Islami along with few other parties also had reservations. The PTI (that returned to the parliament as the third largest political party in terms of seats and the second largest political party in terms of votes) for the first year after the elections kept demanding for recounting of votes particularly in four constituencies and also demanded for concrete electoral reforms. However, when the demands were not paid any heed the PTI and its supporters took the protest to roads and Pakistan saw the longest ever sit-in protests of its political history that lasted for more than four months. This protest was the first of its kind that showed the distrust of people of Pakistan on its electoral system and ECP - its transparency, impartiality and independence. The Speaker of National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq established a special parliamentary committee on Electoral Reforms in June 2014 when the protestor had taken the road. The committee has total of 33 members (22 MNA's and 11 Senators) in which all the Parliamentary political parties have been given representation and is chaired by Mr. Ishaq Dar. The mandate of the Committee was to evaluate the shortcomings of the previous elections and to suggest recommendations for holding free, fair and transparent elections in the future. The committee was supposed to submit its report after three months but after holding around 22 meetings (including those of its subcommittees) the committee has been unable to present the report in the Parliament, rather the committee has not held any meeting since last November. The secretary to the Committee on Electoral Reforms during an interview informed the Youth Parliament Standing Committee on Law, Justice & Human Rights that the committee has invited suggestions for the electoral reforms from all walks of the society and all the political parties have contributed into making the report which is expected to come out in next few months. Moreover, when asked about the implementation of those reforms, he said that it is going to be a lengthy process as the report is around few hundred pages and the parliament will decide upon which recommendations shall be incorporated in law and that may take a while. However, he was confident that before the next elections Pakistan will see a positive development with regard to the electoral reforms. Reference: http://www.youthparliament.pk/yp2014/downloads/CR/ElectoralReformsinPakistan.pdf Sadiq Model United Nations 2015 Sadiq Public School, Ahmedpur Road, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. [email protected]; www.facebook.com/sadiqmun +92-062-2877692-4 History of Electoral Reforms: Sadiq Model United Nations 2015 Sadiq Public School, Ahmedpur Road, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. [email protected]; www.facebook.com/sadiqmun +92-062-2877692-4 Ways in which elections are rigged Electoral Manipulation Most electoral fraud takes place during or immediately after election campaigns, by interfering with the voting process or the counting of votes. However, it can also occur far in advance, by altering the composition of the electorate. In many cases this is not illegal and thus technically not electoral fraud, although it is a violation of the principles of democracy. Ballot papers confusion Ballot papers may be used to discourage votes for a particular party or candidate, using design or other features which confuse voters into voting for a different candidate. Another method of confusing people into voting for a different candidate than they intended is to run candidates or create political parties with similar names or symbols as an existing candidate or party. The aim is that enough Sadiq Model United Nations 2015 Sadiq Public School, Ahmedpur Road, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. [email protected]; www.facebook.com/sadiqmun +92-062-2877692-4 voters will be misled into voting for the false candidate or party to influence the results. Such tactics may be particularly effective when a large proportion of voters have limited literacy in the language used on the ballot paper. Again, such tactics are usually not illegal but often work against the principles of democracy. Involvement of Establishment and Interim Government 2013 elections and previous elections in Pakistan have been widely accused of being rigged by the interim government and unfair practices by Election Commission. Code of Conduct needs to be shaped. Role of Returning Officers The returning officers have often been alleged by the political parties of being involved into electoral rigging. The biggest crisis came up after 2013 elections when the returning officers were accused of changing the whole results which differed by meager differences. There has to be something done to prevent this being from being continued. Unverified Votes Unverified votes have been reported of changing the entire results of elections. This is basically cause by use of substandard ink (not magnetic ink in particular) and use of sub-standard ballet paper on which votes cannot be verified when checked. All this caused serious problems and turmoil in the country. Problems faced by voters The lasting images of the 2013 general elections were those of endless queues in the scorching sun, teenage boys threatening voters outside polling stations and videos of human rigging machines mechanically stamping ballot papers. The voters experienced huge life threats including blaring sounds of fires and inhumane activities. The overseas Pakistanis were not facilitated to vote, as they were not given any facility to vote while being in their respective country. Recent Elections were held in 11th May 13 which attracted a big turnout than previous elections in Pakistan. It was reported that elections will bring an unexpected change in Pakistan's democratic step and a peaceful transition of power shall take place for the first ever time in Pakistan but yet again this dream was shattered into infinite fragments. This lead to Political leaders to be reported of derogatory remarks by renowned newspapers. Sadiq Model United Nations 2015 Sadiq Public School, Ahmedpur Road, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. [email protected]; www.facebook.com/sadiqmun +92-062-2877692-4 Topic Area B: Restoration of Student Politics in Pakistan Politics now a days is known to those who pay heed to it only, we misunderstand the term ’political’ and even use it as an abusive article. Why? Isn’t it the dimension through which we got our land, Pakistan? Isn’t it the way through which we got those 90,000 prisoners back from the international jails? If it is so than why ignore politics, the way toward dialogue, the road that has always led to amnesty within and without.

Load more

  16

Copy Link