Pakistani community elections have all posts up for grabs

More than 3,000 members of the Pakistan Association Dubai are eligible to vote on June 10.

DUBAI // Pakistanis in Dubai will vote on June 10 to decide who runs their community association.

More than 3,000 members of the Pakistan Association Dubai (PAD) are eligible to vote in the secret ballot. Candidates have until May 25 to file nomination papers.

All 12 posts on the ruling executive committee are up for grabs. Of those, four are held by officers at the end of their second two-year term meaning they will have to leave their posts. However, they can run for other positions.

Rizwan Fancy, the community welfare officer, is among those hoping to be re-elected to his current position.

"It's something I love doing," he said. "I hope that if the community is happy with me, they will allow me to continue. I don't have any other distractions so I'm fully focused on helping the community."

He said candidates should have the needs of the Pakistani community at heart.

"When you get elected to a position like this your focus must be on how to help the community. We have a lot of challenges facing us as a community but I'm hopeful we can face them in the right manner."

But for others, the key to the future success of the association is for it to become more open.

"I hope that people in the association who get elected focus more on the community," said Imran Kayani, 23, who lives in Jumeirah Beach Residence.

"By that I don't mean things like the new community hall, I mean being more accountable to the Pakistani community.

"I would personally like to see the PAD do more stuff with other communities instead of always just looking solely within. I understand this is what a lot of people want but we live in a really mixed city and it would be good to interact with people from other backgrounds."

He said he would also like to see more younger people elected. "We need younger members of the community to take more of an active role."

The list of candidates will be published on Thursday, May 26. Any objections to their candidacy must be made by May 28, and will then be subject to a review by the election committee the following day.

A final list of approved candidates will then be released on May 30. Polling will take place at the association's Bur Dubai headquarters on June 10 from 8.30am to 8pm. Results will be declared on the same day, with the winners taking their oaths on June 17.