News
Friday, April 12, 2013
ECP mulls plan to give voting rights to expats in 10 countries
* Informs SC that ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Law, Overseas Pakistanis, IT taken on board for arrangements
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has told the Supreme Court that it is evolving an effective mechanism to ensure that overseas Pakistanis in ten different countries can exercise their right to vote in the upcoming general elections.
A three-member bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on Thursday expressed confidence that the ECP and other government departments would finalise the procedure to facilitate overseas Pakistanis so that they could exercise their right of vote. ECP Director General Syed Sher Afgan told the bench that a meeting was convened in the ECP, which was attended by him, attorney general of Pakistan and other relevant government departments’ functionaries.
He also said that the ministries of finance, foreign affairs, law, overseas Pakistanis and information technology were taken on board for pre-poll arrangements abroad in the selected countries, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, UK, USA, Canada and Australia. He also said that those countries had been selected where the majority of Pakistanis reside, adding that out of 4.4 million Pakistanis, 3.5 million are residing in Middle Eastern countries, and of them 2.9 million are in Saudi Arabia.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk