It has been over a year and a half since the conduct of General Elections 2024. The political discourse is gradually shifting from debates about what went wrong in the last election to how future elections can be made more transparent and credible.
In its Post-Election Review released in September 2025, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) proposed several amendments to the Elections Act, 2017. Among these are some specific suggestions concerning political parties, which have been submitted to the Parliament through the ECP’s Annual Report 2024.
Let us dissect below what these proposals mean for the functioning of political parties in Pakistan.
Direct monitoring of intra-party elections
The ECP has recommended that it directly monitor intra-party elections of all the enlisted parties. According to the proposal, a team of ECP officers would monitor the political party elections and submit its report to the Commission for further action. The findings would then be included in the ECP’s Annual Report to Parliament.
However, it remains unclear what would be the legal consequences if the ECP monitoring team found the elections non-compliant with the procedures established in the party’s constitution. This also raises questions about whether the proposal is an intentional shift from the current legal practice of only “enlistment of political parties” towards a full-fledged “registration of political parties,” which may lead to the regulation of internal party affairs by the ECP.
No new party enlistment during elections
Another proposed change seeks to allow the ECP to not entertain any new applications for party enlistment from the time an Election Program is issued until the names of returned candidates are officially published in the Gazette.
While this step could reduce the Commission’s administrative burden during the busy election period, it may also result in prolonged suspension of new party enlistments. The Election Program for the general elections, issued under Section 57 of the Elections Act, typically spans nearly two months. But since the ECP has the discretion to alter this schedule, and given our country’s unique political context, where exceptions may become the norm, the restriction period could extend much longer than two months. Therefore, the Parliament, if considers this proposal, would need to tighten up the wording of this provision to prevent such unintended consequences.
Updated membership data after each election
The ECP has also recommended that political parties be required to submit updated membership data after every intra-party election. Each party would need to provide details of at least 2,000 members, including updates on those who have resigned, been expelled, passed away, or entered government service, as required by the law.
The ECP has proposed several other amendments to the Elections Act, 2017 as well. The recommendations discussed here only relate to political parties. Stay tuned to FAFEN Digital to read what these proposals aim to change, and what their implications could be for the future of elections and democracy in Pakistan.
