ECP Review Report
Deconstructing Rigging Fiasco
What Gulu media did not want to tell?
If one develop a chart of riggings and misconduct during
last three elections (2002, 2008 & 2013) one can easily know about the
improvements but if you have an agenda than you will always play with
perfections. In his recent report ECP has declared 2013 elections as “The Most
Credible elections in the history of Pakistan” but our Gulu Media is not ready
even to read the report. In this report we also find recommendations regarding
media coverage and misconduct even by the monitors like FAFEN but such news
will not get any place due to obvious bias. Report not only appreciated efforts
by international actors like UNDP and IFES and also mentioned EU and others
positively yet none of them neither pinpoint Chief Justice Ch Iftiqar nor talk
about 35 famous most rigged cases. Are they all were supporters of PML nawaz?
In its recommendations the report did not mention any particular province but
talk about weaknesses of the whole system. It is contrary to what our Gulu
media is reporting from last few months. According to IK, except KPK provincial
assembly elections rigging is found everywhere. PPP is not mentioning rigging
in interior sindh while MQM is silent about Karachi. ANP and JUI are talking
about massive rigging in KPK. Not a single international monitor ever mentioned Punjab specific rigging but Gulu
media is constantly spreading false analysis with the support of Gulu anchors
and Gulu analysts’. Please read some
extracts from the report and if you need to read more , in the end there is a
link of full report too.
Extracts
Extracts
1.
Many observers applauded the
elections as the most credible in the history of Pakistan
2.
the ECP lunched this
post-election review process to gather experiences of those who were directly
part of the elections, and to use these experiences to inform reform packages
3.
Pakistan held its largest
General Elections on 11 May 2013, involving over 86 million voters and nearly
650,000 polling personnel working at around 70,000 polling stations. It was a
huge challenge.
4.
Election Commission of
Pakistan (ECP) fulfilling its Constitutional obligations delivered a free, fair
and transparent election, which has been seen as an important development for
the country’s democratic institutions.
5.
Holding elections on the same
day in a country of Pakistan’s size, both in terms of geographical spread and
population, was never an easy job; however, it was done with a professional
precision.
6.
The ECP must also
acknowledge the contribution of two external organizations – International Foundation
for Electoral Systems (IFES) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) –
that provided technical assistance and support in a number of areas.
7.
ECP established a
Post-Election Review Committee comprising ECP, IFES and UNDP officials.
8.
The ECP post-election
review committee met on 2 October 2013 under the chair of Secretary ECP. Senior
officials from ECP UNDP and IFES attended this meeting. This session was a
brainstorming session to review the issues faced during the election, coping mechanisms
applies, lessons learned, and draft recommendations from the PER process.
9.
The revised electoral
reform proposals will be put forward to the parliament by the ECP.
10.
ECP’s Initiatives Prior to
2013 General Elections
a)
Five-Year Strategic Plan
(2010-2014)
b)
Computerized electoral
rolls with photographs
c)
SMS Service to check names
on electoral rolls and location of polling station
d)
Codes of conduct for
various actors
e)
Campaign monitoring
f)
Separate account for
campaign expenditure
g)
New Nomination Form
h)
Nomination booklet for
contesting candidates
i)
Training of DROs and ROs
j)
Training of PrOs, Assistant
Presiding (APOs) Officers and Polling Officers (POs)
k)
Result Management System
l)
Gender disaggregated voter
turnout
m)
Voter awareness
n)
Appointment of Election
Tribunals
o)
Better security
arrangements
o)
o)
11.
Key Challenges faced by the
ECP
A.
In some areas, teams
appointed by the ECP for campaign monitoring could not deliver the expected
outcome, and violations of the code of conduct by some candidates went unnoticed.
B.
Another challenge faced was
lack of support from political parties and contesting candidates – they were
seen violating the code of conduct
C.
The ROs had the full
authority to accept or reject nomination papers of the contesting candidates,
but the ECP did not issue specific instructions on how to undertake this process
and it was left to the ROs.
D.
Armed forces were also
deployed in areas that had the potential for violence. Nearly half of the
polling stations were declared sensitive.
E.
The ballot papers in some
areas were delivered late, thereby causing problems for ROs and PrOs.
12.
The Result Management
System (RMS) provided by UNDP did not function properly from the very first day
of its installation as the persons appointed to work for this system have not proper
knowledge of the software of said system and due to that reason; most of the
Returning Officers have managed / prepared the result sheets manually. It is
proposed that proper raining about software of RMS may be given to the Data
Entry Operators of ECP field Offices.
13.
. Change in the description
/ boundaries of the census blocks may not be made until next National Census in
the country.
14.
There is dire need to
devising of code of conduct for media to access the Election Offices. It has
been observed that the media reporters freely entered into the offices and
insisted (and in some cases forced) to provide information demanded, hence
badly disturbing the office decorum and secrecy of election work. There should
be a policy to ensure that the media may get information without disturbing
offices decorum and violating of security regulations.
15.
The Accreditation cards for
media and NGOs are issued for observation on polling day. However, the process
is still not regularized. There is need to formulate the eligibility criteria for
issuance of card, setting up requirements for the applicants and briefing the
rules for observation on polling day.
16.
The implementation process
for campaign expenditure is very weak, e.g. the expense limit could not be
implemented in reality.
17.
The attitude of some of
polling agents was disruptive, which made it difficult for polling staff to
carry out their duties.
18.
The FAFEN election
observers did not follow the prescribed code of conduct; some actively
interfered with the polling process. They took pictures of voters while they
were stamping their ballots and casting their votes, thus violating the
sanctity of the secrecy of the ballot.
19.
The Post-Election Review
Committee reviewed the following reports of national and international election
observers and international non-governmental organizations:
I.
Report of the Commonwealth
Observer Mission, Pakistan General Elections
II.
European Union Election
Observation Mission Final Report Pakistan 2013
III.
Free & Fair Election
Network (FAFEN)’s Observation of General Elections 2013: Key Findings and
Recommendations, May 2013
IV.
National Democratic
Institute / The Asian Network for Free Elections 2013:National and Provincial
Assembly Elections in Pakistan Final Report
V.
National Commission on the
Status of Women Election Monitoring and Recommendations
VI.
Report on The Asia
Foundation’s Supporting Transparency, Accountability and Electoral Processes in
Pakistan (STAEP) Mega Mela Convention
VII.
Policy Brief Agenda for Electoral
Reforms in Pakistan after 2013 General Election July 2013: Pakistan Institute
of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT)
20.
There is a dire need for
the deployment of army to maintain security in the country on poll day.
Deployment of army inside and outside the polling stations was recommended by
most of the ROs because it is perceived that army is capable of maintaining law
and order situation under control. There was some concern that relying on the
army at the expense of civilian powers sets a negative precedent. It could be
evaluated whether the security personnel should be under the disposal of DRO.
21.
Furthermore, entities such
as political parties, election observers and media personnel were often found
to violate the codes of conduct issued by the ECP. Election observers and media
personnel in particular were not adequately trained on election operations and
procedures and they often sent out inaccurate reports before verifying the
facts with the ECP.
22. There should be legally binding
penalties for violations of the codes of conduct by political parties, election
observers and the media.
23.
Some PrOs complained about
the role of media and yellow journalism.
24.
Clear directives form the
ECP were often not communicated to the ROs, such as the permission to media
persons and journalist to enter into the polling stations for the coverage of
polling process.
25.
There is a need to enact a
law to regulate the election campaign through the commercial media and to place
a ceiling on such spending by political par ties.
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