The right to vote for overseas Pakistanis is controversial as well as debatable among major political parties and bear financial and implementation constraints. After three decades of struggle, overseas Pakistanis got the opportunity to elect their home constituencies or government during PTI tenure in 2021. It was an act of joint sitting of both the houses of parliament and considered as a historic move by the then government but the fruition of it is far from implementation. Before it was even implemented the Election Amendment Act 2021 was repealed by the PML-N government in 2022 stating that such mechanism with electronic voting machines EVMs is untested and electronic voting for the time being is not suitable for the upcoming general elections 2023 and demand some more time.

There is no denial to the fact that thirty years of struggles were brought to fruition in 2021 however, mere passing the bill does not guarantee its implementation. The voting rights for overseas Pakistanis has been subjected to debate since past decade. It is still facing a host of challenges that currently seem to be unresolved and might take a long run.

The first of all challenges is that it does not have a bi-partisan consensus developed. When the amended bill was passed back in 2021, it could not reach a bi-partisanship. The outcome of which we have seen in the form of reversing the same Election Amendment Act in November 2022 by the PML-N government. The government claimed its concerns regarding overseas electronic voting that such unprecedented and untested mechanism could be proved to be either a game changer or a disaster for political future of Pakistan. However, this could be coated as to seal their fear of losing elections as overseas vote bank belongs to Imran Khan.

The popularity of Imran Khan abroad predates his political career in Pakistan due to his charismatic personality and as a sportsman. In Pakistan, a lot more development and technological projects do not meet their ends just because of political rivalry between party in power and party in opposition; be it Kalabagh Dam or Overseas voting rights- both have met the same fate. The realization of demand for overseas voting which was put forward by one party is led down by another one when rose to power.

The overseas voting rights are not only under objection by political parties but also among citizens. Although overseas Pakistanis are assets of Pakistan as they send their remittances back to their homeland and contribute to its welfare and well-being yet their involvement in home politics is seen as controversial. It is because of the reason that those who are sitting outside Pakistan do not have clear idea and fair judgement of what the country is going through in the socio-economic areas and have not felt the direct consequences of PTI government’s rule. What they are concerned abroad is only about reputation of Pakistan and image of the leader. To overseas, Khan has satisfied both of their concerns so the vote bank belongs to him which could be unfair to the people of Pakistan.

Our electoral system is already considered as unfair and suspicious. Pakistan is not technologically upgraded as compared to the other developing and developed nations. There is no doubt that introduction of technology is the only option through Internet voting as Election Commission of Pakistan has already tested post balloting and found it unsuccessful. But I-voting currently is not secure balloting and privacy is not guaranteed at this moment. The only option left behind is that let the technology evolve at its own pace in Pakistan and things shall fall into place right after. Over 9 million overseas are there who are ready to vote, but this cannot be achieved as for now.

A major chunk of Pakistani diaspora lives in middle eastern countries especially Arab Gulf states. When the issue of granting right to vote for overseas initiated, according to official report of foreign ministry, diaspora of Middle eastern countries would not be allowed to avail the opportunity as per the orders of their respective governments. They are usually monarchies and casting vote to choose their own leader even when one is not non-resident national will cast an impact on their citizens. Pakistani diaspora residing over there, wrote to Ministry of Foreign Affairs that if such thing happen, they will come out on streets and not hesitate to protest which will surely effect Pakistan’s relations with Gulf countries.

Finally, and above all, financial constraint is the most important factor for conducting overseas voting abroad. Pakistan is currently moving economically in downward direction. The budget 2023-24 allocates Rs.47billion for 2023 elections which is already a huge amount to spent when already facing a dwindling economy. It simply does not afford electronic voting machines and hire trained people to operate them at this moment. Moreover, it is the essence of time that makes a path for your decisions to implement. We are always too late to hold such important decisions and since everything is time bound, and political uncertainty leads on top in Pakistan, the time for overseas voting is now up currently by the former government led by PMLN.

The right to vote for overseas Pakistanis will remain questionable in future because not only it faces backlash within Pakistan but among many overseas who would not be accessible to it. Those who are not residents of the country would not be exposed to the economic and administrative issues of the country. Moreover, it was ensured by the then government but how to caste that vote was vague and ambiguous in the bill. The successive government took advantage of it and turned the tables in its favor. Pakistan is not much advanced in technology yet so it must wait for evolving technological advancements acceptable to all. As a model for overseas voting, it should keep in sight the Mexican overseas voting model. But the pre-requisites to overseas I-Voting are essentially bi-partisan consensus, political stability and supportive financial budget which are more than far in sight in Pakistan’s current scenario.