Electoral Framework and Election Administration

Electoral System in Pakistan

For the purpose of electing the National Assembly .The country is divided into 272 single

Member constituencies. Constituencies are established in each area on the basis of population

size. The number of seats in each area is provided in the table below. The electoral system

for the National Assembly General Seats is based on the single-member constituencies where

members are elected by direct vote through a First-Past-The-Post (simple majority) system.

There are also 60 Reserved Seats for women. These are allocated to parties on the basis of a

proportional distribution from party lists based on each party’s share of the general seats won

in the Province.

In addition there are ten seats reserved for Non-Muslims. These are allocated to parties on

the basis of a proportional representation party list system based on each party’s share of the

general seats won in the National Assembly.

Distribution of Seats in the National Assembly:

General seats women Non-Muslims Total

Balochistan 14 3 17
Khyber 35 8 43
Pakhtunkhwa

Punjab 148 35 183

SINDH 61 14 75
FATA 12 - 12
FEDERAL 2 - 2
CAPITAL
TOTAL 272 60 10 342
Distribution of Seats in the Provincial Assemblies

General Seats Women Non-Muslims total

Balochistan 51 11 3 65

Khyber 99 22 3 124
Pakhtunkhwa
Punjab 297 66 8 371

Sindh 130 29 9 168

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)

The ECP at the national level comprises a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and four other

Commissioners and has overall responsibility and authority for the conduct of elections. The

ECP has 2,288 full-time employees and in addition to the national Commission has offices at

the provincial, divisional and district levels. The current CEC is Mr Justice (Retd.) Fakharudin

Ebrahim.

Elections system in Pakistan

since its establishment in 1947, Pakistan has had an asymmetric federal government and is a
federal parliamentary democratic republic. At the national level, the people of Pakistan elect a
bicameral legislature, the Parliament of Pakistan. The parliament consists of a lower house called
the National Assembly, which is elected directly, and an upper house called the Senate, whose
members are chosen by elected provincial legislators. The head of government, the Prime
Minister, is elected by the majority members of the National Assembly and the head of state (and
figurehead), the President, is elected by the Electoral College, which consists of both houses of
Parliament together with the four provincial assemblies. In addition to the national parliament
and the provincial assemblies, Pakistan also has more than five thousand elected local
governments.
India
India has an asymmetric federal government with officials at the federal ,state and local
levels.At the national level,the head of government,prime minister, is elected by members of the
lok sabha, the lower house of the parlimentof india.the elections are conducted by the election
commission of india.All members of the lok sabha,except two who can be nominated by the
president of india.are directly elections which take place every five years,in normal
circumstances by universal adult suffrage and a first post system. Members of the Rajiya sabha
the supper house of indian parliament are assemblies of the state and the electoral college for the
union territories of india

India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of India,

which defines the power distribution among the central government and the states.
The President of India is the ceremonial head of the country and supreme commander-in-chief
for all defence forces in India. [1]
However, it is the Prime Minister of India, who is the leader of the party or political
alliance having a majority in the country wide elections to the Lok Sabha that exercises most
executive powers for matters that require country wide powers under a federal system.
India is regionally divided into States and each State has a Chief Minister who is the leader of
the party or political alliance having won majority in the regional elections otherwise known as
State Assembly Elections that exercises executive powers in that State. The respective
State's Chief Minister has executive powers within the State and works jointly with the Prime
Minister of India or his ministers on matters that require both State and Central attention.
The President of India, monitors the rule of law through his appointed governors in each State
and on their recommendation can take over the executive powers from the Chief Minister of the
State, temporarily when the elected representatives of the State government has failed to create a
peaceful environment and has deteriorated into chaos. The President of India dissolves the
existing State government if necessary, and a new election is conducted.
Election commission

Election Commission is a federal body, enacted under the provisions of the Constitution,
responsible for monitoring and administering all the electoral processes of India. This body is
responsible for ensuring elections are free and fair, without any bias.[2]
Election Commission ensures the conduct of members pre-elections, during elections and post-
elections are as per the statutory legislation.
All election related disputes are handled by the Election Commission. The Supreme Court of
India has held that where the enacted laws are silent or make insufficient provision to deal with a
given situation in the conduct of elections, the Election Commission has the residuary powers
under the Constitution to act in appropriate manner.

General Elections (Lok sabha)

Members of Lok Sabha (House of the People) or the lower house of India's Parliament are
elected by being voted upon by all adult citizens of India, from a set of candidates who stand in
their respective constituencies. Every adult citizen of India can vote only in their constituency.
Candidates who win the Lok Sabha elections are called 'Member of Parliament' and hold their
seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the council of
ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi, on
matters relating to creation of new laws, removing or improving the existing laws that affect all
citizens of India. Elections take place once in 5 years to elect 545 members for the Lok Sabha
(Lower house).
State Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) Elections.
Members of State Legislative Assembly, are elected directly by voting, from a set of candidates
who stands in their respective constituencies. Every adult citizen of India can vote only in their
constituency. Candidates who win the State Legislative Assemblies elections are called 'Member
of Legislative Assembly' (MLA) and hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved
by the Governor. The house meets in the respective state, on matters relating to creation of new
laws, removing or improving the existing laws that affect all citizens living in that state.
Total strength of each assembly depends on each State, mostly based on size and population.
Similar to Lok sabha elections, leader of the majority party/alliance takes oath as Chief Minister
of the State.
Rajya Sabha (Upper House) Elections.
The Rajya Sabha, also known as the Council of States, is the upper house of India's Parliament.
Candidates are not elected directly by the citizens, but by the Members of Legislative
Assemblies and up to 12 can be nominated by the President of India for their contributions to art,
literature, science, and social services. Members of the Parliament in Rajya Sabha get a tenure of
six years, with one-third of the body facing re-election every two years. Rajya Sabha acts as a
second-level review body before a bill becomes an act
The Legislative proposals (making new laws, removing or appending new conditions to the
existing law) are brought before either house of the Parliament in the form of a bill. A bill is the
draft of a legislative proposal, which, when passed by both houses of Parliament (Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha) and assented to by the President, becomes an Act of Parliament.
The Constitution of India however places some restrictions on the Rajya Sabha which makes the
Lok Sabha more powerful in certain areas. For example, it stipulates that Money bills must
originate in the Lok Sabha.
Members of Rajya Sabha debate bills sent by the Lok Sabha and can approve, reject or send the
bill back to the Lok Sabha for further debate and discussion on the matter, as well as to suggest
better changes in the drafted bill. Members of Rajya Sabha can only make recommendations to
the Lok Sabha for money bills within 14 days. Even if Rajya Sabha fails to return the money bill
in 14 days to the Lok Sabha, that bill is deemed to have passed by both the Houses. Also, if the
Lok Sabha rejects any (or all) of the amendments proposed by the Rajya Sabha, the bill is
deemed to have been passed by both Houses of Parliament of India in the form the Lok Sabha
finally passes it.
Malaysia
1. Parliament is dissolved

The ball starts rolling the day Parliament is dissolved, which has yet to happen for the14th
general election.

This sometimes happens once every four years, but a full term is five years.

The Yang Di-Pertuan Agong officially dissolves Parliament upon advice from the prime
minister, who is currently Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

When Parliament is dissolved, the election is to be held within 60 days.

2. When will this happen?

The 13th Parliament automatically dissolves on June 24, but the prime minister can call for the
dissolution anytime before then.

3. What or who are people voting for?

Take a deep breath.

Malaysians vote for who will sit in the Lower House of Parliament known as the Dewan Rakyat,
comprising 222 seats. This is a federal level vote.

The candidates for the 222 seats are divided into respective constituencies. Or, in simpler terms,
there are 222 constituencies and one seat to represent each area in Parliament.

A constituency is an area within a state. Each state has a various number of federal and state
constituencies. Selangor has 22 federal constituencies, for example, while Penang has 13.

But there is also a second vote which generally coincides with the general election. The people
will vote for 587 state legislative assembly seats, or “Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri”. These
assemblymen are elected to form the state government. This is a state level vote.

Voters in the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan, however, only have one
vote — for their Member of Parliament — as there are no local council elections.

In the 14th general election, Sarawakians will only cast their ballots for their MPs as their state
election was already held in 2016.
It is possible for candidates to run as both MPs and state assemblymen.  

Candidates will either be nominees of political parties or running as independents.

Following the Westminster system, there is also an Upper House in Parliament known as Dewan
Negara. The people do not vote on these 70 seats occupied by senators.

Senators are appointed by Yang Di-Pertuan Agong upon advice from the prime minister. Each
state assembly can appoint two senators to the Dewan Negara.

4. Who oversees the election?

A seven-member Election Commission (EC) appointed by the King upon advice from the prime
minister.

Their first call to action is when Parliament is dissolved. The EC issues a writ to returning
officers to hold elections in their respective constituencies. A returning officer is someone who
represents each constituency on behalf of the EC.

Keeping up? Let’s move on.

5. Nominations begin

And the excitement commences.

Candidates must first deposit RM10,000 to contest a parliamentary seat and RM5,000 for a seat
at state level. They will lose their deposit if they fail to get at least ⅛ of the total number of votes
cast.

Candidates are also required to pay a campaign materials deposit of RM5,000 for a Parliament
seat and RM3,000 for a state seat. The deposit will be returned once all of the candidate’s
campaign materials are cleaned up within two weeks of polling.

Nomination papers are submitted to the returning officer for each constituency.

The returning officer will declare shortly after who the candidates are, trusting they are fit to
stand for election.

There are three premises which determine if a person can run for election — they must be
Malaysian citizens of at least 21 years of age, of sound mental capacity and not bankrupt.

6. Then some campaigning

This will begin after nominations are decided and end at midnight before polling day.

Campaigns will include tours around kampungs and holding “ceramah”, or rallies.
Rules of the campaign — no use of improper materials, no illegal forums and no going above
campaign spending limits, which are RM200,000 for federal level and RM100,000 for state level
votes.

7. Followed by polling

The voting day. Polling lasts for one day.

Registered voters cast their poll for both parliamentary and state level candidates.

There is no date set for voting in the 14th general election as Parliament is yet to be dissolved.

8. Count the ballots

Ballots are tallied by EC officers.

9. Declaration

Returning officer to each constituency will announce which candidate is the winner.

For each seat declared, the numbers begin to add up for which party will rule in Parliament.

10. How is the winner decided?

Using a first-past-the-post system, adopted from Britain. The winner is the candidate who gets
the most number of votes out of the total ballots cast. For example, if 100 votes were cast in a
constituency and Candidate A received 40 votes, while Candidate B and Candidate C each
received 30 votes, Candidate A is the winner despite not getting support from majority of voters.

A government is formed when a party or coalition secures more than half the seats in Parliament.

With 222 seats on offer, 112 is the magic number needed to form a parliamentary majority and
the government
China
The suffrage was not universal, with eligible citizens above age 18 having the right to vote and
be elected. ... The elections, held every three years, are always supervised by a higher level of
government, usually by a County Government.
Elections in China are based on a hierarchical electoral system, whereby local People's
Congresses are directly elected, and all higher levels of People's Congresses up to the National
People's Congress, the national legislature, are indirectly elected by the People's Congress of the
level immediately below.
Governors, mayors, and heads of counties, districts, townships and towns are in turn elected by
the respective local People's Congresses.[2] Presidents of people's courts and chief procurators of
people's procuratorates are elected by the respective local People's Congresses above the county
level. The President and the State Council are elected by the National People's Congress, which
is made of 2980 people.
Direct elections.
People's Congresses of cities that are not divided into districts (不设区的市), counties (县), city
districts (市辖区), towns (镇), townships (乡), and lastly ethnic townships (民族乡), are directly
elected.[1] Additionally, village (村) committee members and chairpersons are directly elected.
[3][4] Local People's Congresses have the constitutional authority to recall the heads and deputy
heads of government at the provincial level and below.

Local People's Congresses.

Under the electoral law of 1 July 1979, nomination of candidates for direct elections
(in counties, townships, etc.) can be made by the Communist Party of China, the various other
political parties, mass organizations, or any voter seconded by at least 3 others.[5] The final list
of electoral candidates must be worked out through "discussion and consultation" or primary
elections,[5] but in practice is determined by the election committee in consultation with small
groups of voters, through a process known as the "three ups and three downs" (三上三下, sān
shàng sān xià). According to the Chinese government, the "three ups and three downs" process is
supposed to operate as follows:
 the election committee collates all of the nominations, checks them, and publishes the list
of nominees and their basic details (first "up"). The published list is given to groups of
electors, comprising the voters in each geographical or institutional electorate for
discussion (first "down");
  the views of the groups of electors are conveyed via group representatives at a committee
meeting, in order to reduce the number of candidates (second "up"). The views of
different elector groups and the discussions at the committee meeting are then conveyed
to voters, and their views are sought (second "down"); and
 the views of the groups of electors are once again collated and reported to the election
committee which, by reference to the views of the majority of electors, determine the
final list of candidates (third "up"). The list of names and basic details is published by
electorate (third "down").

The number of candidates for an election should be 50% to 100% larger than the number of
seats, voting is to be done by secret ballot, and voters are theoretically entitled to recall elections.
[8] Eligible voters, and their electoral districts, are chosen from the family ( 户 籍 ) or work
unit (单位 or dānwèi) registers for rural and urban voters, respectively, which are then submitted
to the election committees after cross-examination by electoral district leaders.[9] Electoral
districts at the basic level (townships, towns, etc.) are composed of 200–300 voters but
sometimes up to 1000, while larger levels (counties, etc.) are composed of 3000 to 4000 voters.

Local People's Governments.

Heads of People's Governments are formally elected by the People's Congress of that level
pursuant to the Organic Law on Local People's Congresses and Governments, but the heads of
township governments have been experimentally elected by the people through various
mechanisms. There are several models used:
 direct nomination and election (Chinese: 直推直选; pinyin: zhi tui zhi xuan)
 direction election (Chinese: 直选; pinyin: zhi xuan)
 two ballots in three rounds (Chinese: 三轮两票制; pinyin: san lun liang piao zhi)
 competition based on mass recommendation (Chinese: 民 推 竞 选 ; pinyin: min tui jing
xuan)
 nomination and election by the masses (海选 or hǎi xuǎn; literally "sea election")
 public recommendation and public election (Chinese: 公推公 选 ; pinyin: gong tui gong
xuan)
Indirect elections.
People's Congresses of provinces ( 省 ), directly controlled municipalities ( 直 辖 市 ), and cities
divided into districts ( 设 区 的 市 ) are indirectly elected by the People's Congress of the level
immediately below.
The Local People's Congress at each administrative level—other than the village level in rural
areas, which hold direct elections—elects candidates for executive positions at that level of
government.

National People's Congress.

The National People's Congress (NPC) has 2987 members, elected for five year terms. Deputies
are elected (over a three-month period) by the people's congresses of the provinces of China,
autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, special
administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and the armed forces. The size of each college
of delegates is related to the number of electors in the constituency. 36 deputies are elected
in Hong Kong.

National People's Government.

The President and Vice President of China, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Secretary-
General of the Standing Committee of the NPC, the Chairman of the Central Military
Commission, and the President and Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court are all elected
by the NPC on the nomination of the Presidium of the NPC. The Premier is elected by the NPC
on the nomination of the President.[26] Other members of the State Council are elected by the
NPC on the nomination of the Premier.[26] Other members of the Central Military
Commission are elected by the NPC on the nomination of the Chairman of the Central Military
Commission.[26]
In the 2008 election for the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, for example,
president Hu Jintao, the only candidate, received a majority of approval votes. However, some
electors chose to write in other names; the most popular write-in candidate was former
premier Zhu Rongji.
For appointed positions requiring the approval of the People's Congress, such as the premier and
cabinet ministers, delegates may either approve or disapprove of the appointment. Relevant laws
provide that if the single candidate does not receive more than 50% approval, the position is left
vacant until the next session of the People's Congress. This rarely happens in practice, and has
never happened at the national level.

Party system.
Officially, China is a multi-party socialist state under the leadership of the Communist Party of
China (CPC). There are a small number of independent candidates for people's congress,
particularly in neighborhoods of major cities, who sometimes campaign using weibos posted on
the internet.
Although there is no legal requirement for either membership in or approval by the Communist
Party, in practice the membership of the higher people's congresses and people's governments are
largely determined by the Party.[29] Independent candidates are strongly discouraged and face
government intervention in their campaigns.[30] In practice, the power of parties other than the
Communist Party of China is eliminated.[28] Because none of the minor parties have
independent bases of support and rely on Communist Party approval for appointment to positions
of power, none have the capacity to serve as a true opposition party. Whereas there are
Communist Party Committees in People's Congresses at all levels, none of the other parties
operate any form of party parliamentary groups. In order to represent different segments of the
population and bring in technical expertise, the CCP does ensure that a significant minority of
people's congress delegates are either minor party members or unaffiliated, and there is tolerance
of disagreement and debate in the legislative process where this does not fundamentally
challenge the role of the Communist Party.