Overseas Pakistanis’ votes to play decisive role in 2023 general elections

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob has predicted that the votes of overseas Pakistanis will play a decisive role in the next general elections in 2023.

Ahmed Bilal Mehboob asked political parties to pay attention to the vital importance of the overseas Pakistanis’ votes in the 2023 general elections.

After reviewing the statistics, the PILDAT president noted that the 2023 general election would be the election for overseas Pakistanis if arrangements were completed in time for giving them voting right.

He briefed that the total number of overseas Pakistanis’ votes will exceed the margin of the 2018 general elections’ victory in 101 to 145 out of 272 constituencies of the National Assembly.

Breaking! If arrangements completed in time for Overseas Pakistanis Vote, GE2023 will be OPs’ election. 101 to 145 NA Constituencies out of total 272 have OP Votes in excess of GE2018 Margin of Victory which means OP Vote there will be decisive. Are political parties listening?

— احمد بلال محبوبAhmedBilalMehboob (@ABMPildat) February 12, 2022

Voting rights to overseas Pakistanis

The federal government led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had managed to bulldoze amendments to the Elections Act, 2017 in the joint session of parliament on November 17 which allowed the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis.

The legislation had been strongly rejected by the opposition parties and termed it a plan of PTI’s government to right 2023 general elections.

In November last year, President Dr Arif Alvi had praised the granting of voting rights to the overseas Pakistanis and announced that efforts were afoot to ensure their inclusion in polling for the next general election through a simplified online procedure.

President Alvi said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) were collaborating to prepare the voters’ lists in a transparent manner. Internet voting, he said, was the most practical way for overseas Pakistanis to poll their votes, according to the state news agency, APP.

The president had stressed that Pakistan must adopt the new technologies to progress in different fields, including the use of electronic voting machines.