The federal government has decided to give the chairmanship of parliament's electoral reforms committee to the Pakistan Peoples Party, Daily Pakistan reported on 6 November. The decision settles one of the main questions hanging over the panel, which is where parliament will work on the rules for how elections are held across Pakistan.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry has also set out how seats on the committee will be shared among the parties. The PML-N, the PPP and the PTI will each receive two seats in the Senate, while the Awami National Party, the Balochistan Awami Party, the National Party and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl will get one seat each.

Who the PPP has named

According to Daily Pakistan, the PPP will have five members from the National Assembly and two from the Senate on the committee. The party has finalised its National Assembly nominees: Shazia Marri, Abdul Qadir Patel, Sadiq Memon, Nawabzada Iftikhar and Ali Qasim Gilani.

From the Senate, the PPP has proposed Farooq H Naik and Senator Zamir Ghumro. The name of Senator Shahadat Awan, earlier proposed as a third Senate nominee, has been withdrawn. Daily Pakistan said Mr Naik is considered a strong candidate for the chairmanship, although PPP leader Syed Naveed Qamar has said the party itself will decide the name of the committee chairman.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is also the leader of the House in the Senate, will make the final decision on the Senate members. The Express Tribune reported that Mr Dar will consult the opposition, the ruling coalition parties and the parliamentary leadership first.

What the committee will do

The committee will comprise 30 parliamentarians, 20 from the National Assembly and 10 from the Senate, with seats distributed among the parties according to their numerical strength in the two houses. The National Assembly approved its formation on 30 October, and the Speaker is to issue the formal notification naming its members and its chair.

The panel is expected to look into alleged rigging in the 2024 general elections, subsequent by-elections and elections in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, identify those responsible for irregularities, and recommend measures to prevent their recurrence. It is a recommendations body: it will not run elections, count votes or overturn results.

The opposition question

Whether the opposition takes its seats remains open. On 29 October, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari urged opposition leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai to use the authority given by jailed PTI founder Imran Khan to bring opposition lawmakers back into key parliamentary committees, especially on electoral reforms. A PPP delegation met Mr Achakzai in the National Assembly the next day to invite him to join the committee.

The joint opposition remains divided on whether to join and who to nominate, pending an All Parties Conference. PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has demanded equal representation for the government and the opposition on the committee, arguing that electoral reforms should be impartial and in line with the aspirations of the public.

The committee cannot take up work until the Speaker's notification names its members and its chair. Until then, the shape of the panel is settled in outline: a PPP chair, two Senate seats each for the three largest parties, and one each for four smaller parties.