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The Pakistan government plans to make voting in the proposed national referendum, giving a five-year term to President Pervez Musharraf, mandatory and reduce the voting age from 21 to 18 years to maximise voter participation, media reports in Islamabad said.
Musharraf is slated to unveil the details of the referendum in his address to the nation on Friday.
"Insiders maintained that voting for the referendum is being made mandatory as the government wanted maximum participation unlike previous such exercises carried out by former presidents Ayub Khan and Gen Zia-ul Haq," local daily Dawn reported on Thursday.
Maximum voter participation is seen as vital as Pakistan's mainstream political and religious parties have already said that they would boycott the polls.
The government does not attach much importance to the boycott call by religious parties as their support base does not extend beyond seven per cent of the voting public,
However, a similar call by mainstream political parties, like the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League led by exiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, respectively, could have a significant effect in the Sindh and Punjab provinces.
A low turnout with large 'yes' vote could damage the referendum's credibility, observers said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's election commission indicated that it would reduce the voting age from 21 year to 18, which would bring in about 10 million young voters.
Pakistan daily The News quoted officials as saying that while the minimum age to vote in the general elections was fixed at 21 by the constitution, it could be reduced to 18 years for the referendum in order to provide an opportunity for maximum number of people to vote.
The newspaper has also quoted the officials as saying that 'there would be no electoral rolls for the referendum. Voters would be allowed to cast their vote anywhere by showing their identity cards or any other identification'.
At present, Pakistan has around 80 million voters. The voters' strength has doubled since the last referendum held by president Zia-ul Haq in the late eighties.
Zia conducted the referendum with over 50,000 polling booths, while Musharraf's government plans to set up over 100,000 polling booths.
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