Overseas Pakistanis must cast their votes – but how?

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The Election Commission of Pakistan and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) have been tasked to derive a method that would allow the 4.5 million overseas Pakistanis to partake in the upcoming elections. Both institutes are on board with several ideas which are often presented in the Supreme Court of Pakistan for review.

Even if the tasked institutions could successfully derive a voting mechanism, it will still be a great challenge to facilitate the high number of overseas Pakistanis on the voting day. Over 80 percent of the Pakistanis living abroad are likely to be disenfranchised mainly because they live in Middle East countries which do not allow assembly of people even in and near their embassies. Also, it is believed that if even half the registered voters in United States appear at the limited polling stations to cast their votes on the same day, it will be a huge problem for the embassies and consulates to manage the crowd.

According to the official data, some 4,339,728 Pakistanis living in fifteen countries abroad and possess National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) have been registered in the electoral rolls. The data shows that ECP has registered 1.681 million Pakistanis living Saudi Arabia; 1.309 million in United Arab Emirates; 367988 in United Kingdom; 277131 in Oman; 131589 in United States; 93345 in Kuwait; 90148 in Canada; 80166 in Bahrain; 71874 in Qatar; 56495 in Greece; 55851 in Italy; 55478 in Malaysia; 39618 in Spain; 23585 in France and 15728 in Australia.

On the other hand, Nadra is expected to present its voting software to the ECP which would facilitate the overseas voters in casting their votes on Monday. The effectiveness of this software remains a question. Nadra has already rejected the options of internet voting and voice signatures explaining that high level of risk is attached with these measures.

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