According to election commission data, fewer than expected candidates are in the fray for the 2018 parliamentary election in Pakistan, Geo news reported.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) data shows that only 21,482 contestants filed their nomination papers for the 728 provincial and national assembly seats, as against 28,302 aspirants in 2013. The number of voters, however, has gone up by 23%.
Muddassir Rizvi, an official of the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), told Geo news the drop is directly related to the hike in the security fee. FAFEN is a network of more than 50 domestic civil society organizations working together for good governance, fair elections and open parliament in Pakistan since 2006.
“Earlier, a candidate made a deposit of Rs2,000 for a provincial seat and Rs4,000 for a national,” explains Rizvi, “Now, one has to submit Rs30,000 for national and Rs20,000 for provincial.”
Also, this price tag is non-refundable. In 2013, if a candidate received less than one-fourth or so votes, he could ask for a refund. This may have had a deterrent effect on parliamentary hopefuls.
Another factor could be the stringent level of scrutiny and accountability being applied to politicians in the run-up to the polls, according to Geo news.
Last July, Pakistan Supreme Court sent then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif home for alleged corruption. Later, a parliamentarian and a prominent political leader, Jahangir K Tareen, was disqualified from holding his membership of the national assembly due to non-declaration of his property in the United Kingdom.
Both judgments have opened a floodgate. Thereafter, several cases of non-declaration and dishonesty by political leaders are pending in the courts or have already been decided.
“There is a fear in the political circles that a person’s papers might not be accepted. Take the example of the Saifullah family from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is staying out of this election race due to the pending cases,” adds Rizvi.
There is an ongoing inquiry by the National Accountability Bureau regarding their accumulation of assets and alleged ownership of offshore properties.
But, the ECP data also shows a surge in the number of women and minorities who have filed their nomination papers for the 2018 election. This could be attributed to the Elections Act 2017, which requires political parties to ensure at least five per cent representation of women candidates when selecting for general seats.
