{"id":3042,"date":"2026-02-27T16:49:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/?p=3042"},"modified":"2026-03-22T22:55:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T17:55:58","slug":"democracy-denied-six-postponements-of-islamabad-local-elections-expose-systemic-undermining-of-grassroots-governance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/democracy-denied-six-postponements-of-islamabad-local-elections-expose-systemic-undermining-of-grassroots-governance\/","title":{"rendered":"Coalition-38: Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Democracy Denied: Six Postponements of Islamabad Local Elections Expose Systemic Undermining of Grassroots Governance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PKR 544.30 million of Candidates Wasted on Two Cancelled Elections.90% of both Candidates and Voters Strongly Opposed Reducing Women\u2019s Representation From33% to 7% by 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Islamabad, 27 February 2026. The repeated postponement of local government elections in Islamabad \u2014 six times in five years \u2014 represents a direct assault on grassroots democracy and raises serious concerns about the subordination of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to the Executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pattan-Coalition38\u2019s latest survey research reveals that democratic participation in the federal capital has been systematically obstructed, at enormous financial and political cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Massive Financial Losses to Candidates:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>A total of 7,866 candidates in two aborted elections collectively paid PKR 37.74 million in nomination fees. Beyond this, candidates report spending heavily on legal representation and campaign mobilization. The total estimated expenditure for the two cancelled elections stands at a staggering PKR 544.30 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not merely financial loss \u2014 it is the erosion of citizens\u2019 constitutional right to representation too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Public and Candidates Reject Executive Interference:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>70% of candidates and 61% of voters opposed the amendments made to the Local Government Act 2015 through an Ordinance when National Assembly was in session.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>66% of candidates and 49% of voters rejected the abolition of the Metropolitan Corporation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Over 50% opposed indirect elections for town corporations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>90% of candidates and 60% of voters rejected inclusion of businessmen and technocrats in workers\/peasant\u2019s quota seats.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These amendments were introduced through an Ordinance, without stakeholders\u2019 consultation, during an active session of the National Assembly. Respondents widely perceive this as executive overreach designed to centralize control and weaken elected local bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Importantly, 40% of candidates opposing these amendments belonged to ruling parties \u2014 demonstrating that resistance transcends partisan lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Were Elections Being Postponed?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>More than one-third believe elections were postponed out of fear of defeat of ruling parties.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nearly 40% blame the bureaucracy, alleging resistance to working under elected representatives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Over 10% believe Members of the National Assembly seek to preserve monopoly over patronage and development funds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Together, these perceptions suggest a nexus of political and bureaucratic interests actively undermining local democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Weak Intra-Party Democracy:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The survey also reveals troubling patterns within political parties: 71% of party office-bearers were appointed by party leaders rather than elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only 29% reached office through internal party elections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This concentration of power mirrors the broader democratic deficit at the local government level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Recommendations:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The ECP should immediately refund nomination fees to candidates in cancelled elections.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The government should compensate candidates for financial losses incurred due to election cancellations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Instead of holding all Union Council elections on a single day, elections should be staggered \u2014 20% every two years \u2014 to ensure continuity of local governance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Given widespread opposition to key amendments, a referendum should be held to ensure local government institutions are democratic, transparent, accountable, and fully autonomous.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clear definitions of terms such as \u201cbusinessman,\u201d and guarantees of political, fiscal, and administrative empowerment must be provided, along with constitutional protection for local government institutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Democracy delayed is democracy denied.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Research Methodology and Sample Size:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Pattan-Coalition38 used both qualitative (focus group discussion) and quantitative (structured interviews) methods to ascertain opinions of respondents and the factors that determined their point of views. In total 275 persons (62 candidates and 213 voters) participated in the survey research. Out of total 275 participants 65 (or 23.4%) were women. Main themes of the survey research were the following: demographic background of respondents, opinions regarding postponement of local government (LG) elections repeatedly and amendments in the ICT Local Government Act 2015 Government Act, political affiliation etc. Based on analysis of the findings a set of recommendations have been prepared to inform general public and policy makers through media. For details, please read the attached file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The research was conducted during last week of January and first half of February 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/27-02-2026-Survey-Report-on-POSTPONEMENT-OF-ICT-LG-ELECTIONS.pdf\" class=\"pdfemb-viewer\" style=\"\" data-width=\"max\" data-height=\"max\" data-toolbar=\"bottom\" data-toolbar-fixed=\"off\">27-02-2026-Survey-Report-on-POSTPONEMENT-OF-ICT-LG-ELECTIONS<\/a>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About Coalition-38<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Coalition-38 is a network of more than 250 associations, Community-based organisations, labour unions and human rights activists. It advocates to influence the state institutions for the implementation of Article 3, 29, 37 and 38 of Pakistan\u2019s Constitution in letter and spirit, by carrying outresearch, awareness raising, social mobilization, networking of civil society including marginalized communities, people and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">Cell #: 0333-6110964<br>Cell #: 0302-8516901<br>E-mail: williampervaiz@gmail.com<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democracy Denied: Six Postponements of Islamabad Local Elections Expose Systemic Undermining of Grassroots Governance. PKR 544.30 million of Candidates Wasted on Two Cancelled Elections.90% of both Candidates and Voters Strongly Opposed Reducing Women\u2019s Representation From33% to 7% by 2025. Islamabad, 27 February 2026. The repeated postponement of local government elections in Islamabad \u2014 six times [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-democracy-governance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3042\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pattan.org\/pdo\/v2b1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}