ECP launches nationwide female NIC and voter registration campaign

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza on Monday launched a countrywide ‘Female National Identity Card (NIC) and voter registration campaign’ to target unregistered women in 79 districts throughout the country.
Addressing the launching ceremony here, the CEC said that through this campaign which will continue till April 2018, unregistered women will be mobilized and facilitated to acquire national identity card so that they could be added in the electoral rolls.
He said that the ECP has started this campaign to decrease gap between male and female voters as one biggest challenge is the difference between male and female voters in the electoral rolls and this gap is because of low female NIC registration.
He said that this campaign is a collaborative efforts of NADRA, ECP and civil society organizations working at grass root level. He said that the ECP has always manifested its utmost efforts for inclusive elections and every step will be taken to mitigate the existing difference between male and female voters.
He appreciated the support of different national and international organizations in ECP’s efforts to mainstream gender in the electoral process.
He said that there is a broad international consensus that elections are the cornerstone of every democracy. He said that there are essential principles that have to be fulfilled. He said ECP believes that elections are free, fair and transparent if they are all inclusive, in which every segment of the society has an equal opportunity to participate.
He said that women make almost half the population of the country yet their participation in electoral process especially as voters is low. The underlying cause is the absence of National Identity Card owing to different socio culture constraints, which means ignoring a considerable number of population in the decision making process, he added.
He said that to make election process all inclusive, the ECP has taken a number of initiatives like decision on PK-95 constituency, gender sensitive training of the polling staff and permanent staff.
He said that ECP has developed a Gender Mainstreaming Strategy with a four pronged approach. “We are trying to increase the number of female staff at ECP and increase the number of female polling staff at polling stations for the upcoming General Elections while we are also encouraging women political representation and participation in the political arena.”
He thanked the NADRA for its commitment to support this campaign besides other development partners who have always shared ECP’s vision of conducting free, fair, impartial and inclusive elections.

Source: APP