The triumphs of the 20th Amendment

The 20^th Amendment, despite some unexpected hurdles in the Senate, the upper house of Parliament, ultimately went through, albeit with a couple of dissenters.

Regardless of the draft of the 20^th Amendment, aiming to introduce changes in the manner in which the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will be set up had been passed smoothly through the National Assembly; it faced some hurdles in form of opposition from PPP allies in the Senate.

Apart from all the opposition, the fact of the matter is that a new amendment with wide-reaching effects now becomes a part of the law of the land, the Constitution.

Those 28 legislators, from the Senate, the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies, who had lost their places in houses after being disqualified by the Supreme Court on the basis that the ECP’s membership was not complete at the time they were elected through by-elections, now regained their positions.

Conversely, the impact of the 20^th Amendment went beyond this. The impact is not one of restoring MNAs, senators or MPAs to their statuses but bringing about wider change which can help our system function more smoothly.

It laid down definite rules for the setting up an interim setup ahead of the next general elections, strengthening the election commission and its role in the voting process.

In quite an imperative, the ECP is the key player in the vital game of voting, which we should be seeing not very far from now, and there was always a great need to ensure that it was able to act with authority and determine the manner in which the contest for seats comes about.

Of course, the resolution will be in our environment and also inevitably be a part of the ECP’s function.

Considering all this, the 20^th Amendment should be welcomed wide and large. In many ways, its forecasts well for our democratic system and indicate that the government is keen to iron out the creases which spoil the system.

The Amendment also speaks a much needed maturity among the country’s mainstream policies parties and should quiet those who are disbelievers of democratic system.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Feb 22 2012. Filed under National, Opinion, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.