Islamabad: December 20, 2011, PILDAT has welcomed the decision of Election Commission of Pakistan to operationalise the Constitutional bar on dual nationality holders to contest election of Parliament and Provincial Assemblies. PILDAT believes that political parties should not only welcome this but should fully cooperate with the ECP for its effective implementation.

Secretary ECP issued a press release on December 19, 2011, directing Returning Officers to obtain a declaration on oath from all the persons filing Nomination Papers for an election to a seat in the Parliament or a Provincial Assembly. Mr. Ishtiak Ahmad Khan further said that the ECP, according to Article 63-1-(C) of the Constitution read with Section 99 (1A) (C) of the Representation of the People Act, 1976, has observed that the Constitution and law disqualify such a person from being elected, or chosen as, and from being a member of the Parliament, if �he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state.�

PILDAT has since long demanded from ECP to effectively implement the Constitutional and legal provisions on dual nationality holders. In addition to its repeated demands through its electoral reforms submitted to the ECP, PILDAT wrote a letter to the Secretary Election Commission on November 15, 2010 and proposed the following:

�PILDAT would like to formally propose that an additional declaration be added to the Nomination Form required to be submitted by each candidate contesting the election for the membership of the National Assembly or Senate or any of the four Provincial Assemblies. It is proposed that each candidate should declare on oath the current (at the time of filing nomination papers) status of his / her citizenship and /or permanent residency of a foreign country. The declaration may include detail of the application, if any, made by the candidate to a foreign country seeking permanent residence and / or citizenship of the foreign country.

In our opinion, this declaration is important as the voters must know the residence / citizenship status of the candidates seeking their vote and trust for such an important public office. We feel that this information will have an important bearing on the opinion of the voters.�

As an indigenous think tank, established with the focus of strengthening and supporting democracy and democratic institutions, run by Pakistani citizens and supported by eminent Pakistanis from all walks of life, PILDAT has been working to institute electoral reforms and a strict implementation of laws by the Election Commission of Pakistan to ensure free, fair and credible elections in Pakistan.

PILDAT believes that it is the bold decisions such as this will go a long way in enhancing the credibility of the ECP.