Pakistan needs to provide reserved seats for the youth in National Assembly, discussed Thursday in a Dialogue organized by PILDAT & Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Pakistan.
President of the PILDAT Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said, "The major and mainstream parties do not even make it into the top five," referring to the fact that young people are underrepresented in politics. Young people as a demographic group make up 46% of the population, hence they should receive 46% of the available tickets. Prior to the upcoming elections, we must take action to resolve this problem and improve youth representation and involvement."
Dr. Niels Hegewisch, Director of Media Coordination and Outreach Wing Qurat-ul-Ain Fatima, Shaheera Jalil AlBasit, Advocate for Pakistan's Youth Election Quota Campaign, and Dr. Ali Muhammad Malik, Deputy Secretary of the Prime Minister's Youth Programme, joined the Dialogue session (PMYP).
Participants issued a statement outlining their proposed recommendations, which included the following: "Political parties need to play a more active role to involve youth in electoral affairs, beginning by incorporating youth within its power structure and reserving seats for the youth in the National Assembly."
Dr Niels Hegewisch reiterated the German organization’s dedication towards creating socially democratic states around the globe. One of their aims in Pakistan is to promote the role and participation of youth in democratic practices of the country as “infusing youth into politics and legislation is the true way of forming a representative democracy in a country.”
In their key remarks, Qurat-ul-Ain Fatima shared key statistics on voters of Pakistan and the different methods employed by the Election Commission to improve. While Dr Ali Muhammad Malik highlighted the efforts undertaken by Prime Minister’s Office of Youth Affairs to engage youth of the country.
Mr. Mehboob further said that the largest and most mainstream parties in Pakistan do not even place in the top five when it comes to giving tickets to young people.
