Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Secretary Babar Yaqoon on Friday said that over 12 million female voters were still unregistered across the country.
Yaqoob, while addressing the electoral reforms conference in Islamabad, wondered how an election could become free and fair when such a large number of women would be out of the electoral process. “It is the responsibility of political parties to ensure registration of women as voters,” the ECP secretary said. He lamented a lack of cooperation from the political parties over the issue and urged the parties to extend cooperation with the election commission. Around 4.3 million women voters were registered before the general election of 2018, he said.
He expressed apprehension that the number of unregistered women voters in the country could further increase. The ECP was working in collaboration with the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) for registration of the women voters, he said. Yaqoob suggested for considering the proposal of representation with the ratio of population. ECP secretary said that the commission deems the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) as its partner due to its observations and criticism. A working group has also been formed over the recommendations of FAFEN for improvement of the electoral process, he added.
