November 10: Political parties need to play a more active role to involve youth in electoral affairs, starting by incorporating youth within its power structure and reserving seats for the youth in the National Assembly. These were some of the recommendations proposed by the participants at a Dialogue organised by PILDAT & Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Pakistan to discuss the ‘Missing Young Voters of Pakistan’ in Islamabad on November 10, 2022.
Dr. Niels Hegewisch, Country Director, FES Pakistan, reiterated the German organization’s dedication towards creating socially democratic states around the globe. One of their aims in Pakistan is to promote the role and participation of youth in democratic practices of the country as “infusing youth into politics and legislation is the true way of forming a representative democracy in a country.” The parliamentary elections are coming up in the next year and he believes, this dialogue is the need of the hour to interact with all stakeholders and find the best way forward for optimal participation of youth. Other areas of work of FES in Pakistan include cooperating with local partners in the fields of conflict management, promotion of democracy, youth development, industrial relations and regional dialogue.
In her key remarks, Ms. Qurat-ul-Ain Fatima, Director Media Coordination and Outreach Wing & Director Protocol, ECP, shared key statistics on voters of Pakistan and the different methods employed by the Election Commission to improve voter registration and turnout. ECP’s SVEEP and internship programmes were designed to engage young people and educate them on voting and elections. She said: “ECP has focused on local government elections to encourage youth to vote and even contest as candidates; with KP and Sindh allocating 5% of their seats to youth. Similar strategies need to be devised and implemented on provincial and national level”. She further touched upon the issues faced during voting in rural areas & the lack of democratic practices employed within political parties.
Dr. Ali Muhammad Malik, Deputy Secretary of Prime Minister’s Youth Programme (PMYP) highlighted the efforts undertaken by Prime Minister’s Office of Youth Affairs to engage youth of the country. Thanking FES and PILDAT, he stressed the importance of youth representation in legislation making bodies for a truly representative democracy. “We need a responsive government that prioritizes youth empowerment, employment, education and engagement,” said Dr. Malik. He said that the PMYP has begun the process of soliciting nominations for youth-led groups and organizations in order to enable fruitful participation of young people in the development of national cohesion and inclusion. Pakistan is a youthful country, with more than 64 percent of its entire population under the age of 29, however the majority of them are vulnerable due to the many challenges they face. To capitalize on such a potential resource, the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme (PMYP) was established, which provides a window of opportunity through a variety of young schemes that envision youth growth through educational, economic, and social empowerment to tackle life’s problems. Once streamlined via empowerment, this considerable part of the general population provides a demographic edge for accelerating and sustaining extraordinary growth.
Ms. Shaheera Jalil AlBasit, Advocate for Pakistan’s Youth Election Quota Campaign, stressed the importance of having youth representation in the legislative bodies and the resulting impact this would have on future policy development. She shared her experience of advocating for gun safety laws and the campaign ‘March for Our Lives’ in United States of America. She said: “The reason behind youth not casting votes is not due to logistical issues but due to a lack of interest within the young body. We need to create and maintain their interest so that they internalise the importance of their vote and come out on Election Day.” She then shared key highlights of the Bill she had introduced in National Assembly of Pakistan to have reserved seats in legislature and political bodies for youth. Its three main demands include: 30% of the total candidates of political parties should be youth and the duty of financing these candidates’ campaigns should be on the parties themselves. Lastly, 30% of leadership and central positions in political parties be awarded to young candidates. The bill has been referred to the Committee of Parliamentary Affairs for review.
Asking the important questions, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President PILDAT, in his opening presentation explained the impact of this low youth participation will have by weakening the democratic governance system of this country. He highlighted the ever-increasing voter turnout gap in the previous general elections and then shared statistics on young candidates given party tickets by political parties. He said: “In Pakistan, TLP is the top party granting their tickets to youth. The largest and mainstream parties do not even make it into the top five. 46% of the tickets need to be awarded to youth in proportion to their population. We need to address this issue and ensure youth’s increased representation and participation before the next elections”. He followed this by giving a series of suggestions to ECP, political parties and young people themselves on what they can do to mobilise the youth of Pakistan and improve youth voter turnout in the next general elections.
Participants who joined the dialogue included Mr. Abdullah Dayo, Programme Advisor, FES, Mr. Wajih Abbasi, Special Advisor, Embassy of Japan, Mr. Humayon Shami, CEO Pakistan Economic Forum, Ms. Samia Mani, UNDP Pakistan and Mr. Shoaib Safeer, Intern, UNDP Pakistan, Ms. Saima Majeed, PMYP, Dr. Fizza Batool, Research Consultant, Mr. Jawdat Bilal, Careem/Uber, Advocate Dileep Doshi, Vice Chairman Human Rights at Islamabad Bar Association, Mr. Fida Muhammad, Legal Associate, Attorney General Office, Mr. Ibrahim Khan, Advocate Islamabad High Court, Ambassador Abrar Hussain, Chairman IPS, Ms. Irsa Shafique, Research Officer, Mr. Wahaj Bukhari, Programme Implementation, PEF, and Mr. Haseeb Iqbal, Programmme Manager, PEF.
Members of academia and student body included: Mr. Azizullah, Mr. Asim Zaman, Research Associate at QAU, Mr. Abdul Rauf, Law Student Mr. Irfan Ali, Law Student, Mehdi Ali, Student, Mr. Fateh Najeebullah, Lecturer Bahria University, Mr. Munir, QAU, Dr. Adam Saud, Bahria university, Dr. Nawaz Ali, Associate Professor IIUI, Dr. Waqas Saleem, QAU, Mr. Ihtram ul Haq, QAU, Mr. Alam Zeb Khan, QAU, Mr. Mujahid Khan, Mr. Saleldin, Student, Ms. Eesha Aziz, Student, Mr. Gul Hasan, Student, Ms. Sumaiya Saeed, Student and Mr. Ali Haider, Student. Members of Youth Parliament and student organisations who contributed to the discussion included: Ms. Summiya Bano, Ms. Muneeba Maryam, Mr. Ahmad Saleem, Mr. Mustafa Tariq Wynne, Mr. Haider Ali, Mr. Zahoor Ali, Member Progressive Student Federation, Mr. Noor ud Din and Mr. Abid Shah.
Media Representatives included, Mr. Faizan and Mr. Usman of Express News, Mr. Zahoor of Jisarat Paper, Mr. Sheraz Gardezi and Ms. Nausheen Yusaf of Geo News, Mr. Shahzad Ali, Correspondent Samaa News, Mr Muzammil Ali Khan of Aaj Tv, Mr. Hasan of ABN News, Mr. Asim Nawaz of Daily Spring, Mr. Abdullah Momand and Mr. Saqib Saeed of Dawn News.
