A consultation on "Constitutional and Electoral Reforms for Strengthening Accountability, Governance and Inclusion was organized in Karachi on 27 Oct 2022. Women and Human Rights Activist Anis Haroon, Farooq Sattar, MQM-Pakistan Firdous Shamim Naqvi, PTI, Kalsoom Chandio PPP, Shoaib Ahmed Advocate, Deputy Director, Sindh Election Commission, Mahnaz Rehman, Resident Director AF Sindh, Nosheen Khuram, Malka Khan and other civil society organization participated.

Women and Human Rights Activist, Ms. Anis Haroon chaired the session. In her concluding remarks, she suggested that political parties take a more democratic approach. ECP must take strict notice of, and action against, any informal agreements between political parties to prevent women from voting; including debarring/denotification of offending candidates. She said that all positions in women’s wings are filled through elections on the basis of lists of female members; and its office-bearers have sufficient representation in all party structures, particularly the decision-making bodies, e.g. central and provincial executive committees, parliamentary boards and parliamentary party forums etc.

Mahnaz Rehman, Resident Director AF Sindh shared the highlights of Electoral Reforms developed by Aurat Foundation in consultation of civil society organizations. She said that to ensure the constitutional safeguards, social inclusion and rights of marginalized people, there is need to amend the Constitutional Articles no 7, 25 and 27. She said that women should also be inducted in the ECP staff, at all levels, including district ECP offices.

Farooq Sattar, MQM-Pakistan said that there is need to establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority must be to the elected representatives. He fully supported the electoral reforms developed by AF and civil society organizations.

Firdous Shamim Naqvi, PTI, said that we are broad-based movement for change whose mission is to create a free society based on justice.

Kalsoom Chandio PPP, said that that the obstacle to women’s political participation stems from the larger context of socio-cultural, economic, politics and the institutions and the discursive frameworks operating within these structures. ECP should regular updating of electoral rolls; female personnel should be employed for female voter registration, with at least one female enumerator in each team across the country.

Shoaib Ahmed Advocate, Deputy Director, Sindh Election Commission, shared the ECP initiatives. According to him, a mass campaign on the right of women to vote, the importance of women’s vote and voting according to their own choice, is on air through mass media.

The participants emphasized  that federal government and political parties must hold thorough consultations to reach a consensus decision on reforming Constitution and Election Reforms to ensure meaningful participation of women in political era.