Govt seeks PPP, MQM nominees for electoral reforms panel

ISLAMABAD: Taking ownership of an initiative to bring all parliamentary parties, including the opposition, to the negotiating table on electoral reforms, the government on Monday formally appr­oached its allies to join the proposed Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms (PCER). The government contacted its key allies, the PPP and the MQM, seeking nominations for their representatives on the proposed committee. The PPP has submitted the names of its legislators for the PCER. However, the names have not yet been made public. Federal Minister for Par­liamentary Affairs Tar­iq Fazal Chaudhry wrote separate letters to the chief whips of the PPP and MQM in the National Ass­embly, Ijaz Jakhrani and Aminul Haq, respectively, seeking nominations for the committee. Talking to Dawn , Mr Chaudhry said National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had received the names from the PPP.

However, he said the government would announce the names of all committee members at a later stage. He said the ruling PML-N would have nine members, while the PPP would have five and the MQM one. Explaining the formula for representation of parliamentary parties on the committee, the minister said one member would be allocated for every 16 members of the National Assembly. He said that, under the agreed criteria, smaller parties allied with the ruling coalition did not qualify for representation on the committee. The PML-N had therefore decided to allocate one seat each to its smaller allies, including the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z), from its own quota of nine seats. Asked whether the government would also directly approach the opposition to seek nominations for the committee, Mr Chaudhry said the PPP had already contacted opposition parties and that they…