Father of the Nation 

Quaid-i-Azam

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

President of Pakistan

General Pervez Musharraf 

Prime Minister

Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani

Transparency in the elections of 18 February, 2008

The Government is not partisan:

In most countries, elections are held under the ruling party. However, to ensure impartiality and fairness of the electoral process, a caretaker government has been installed in Pakistan. Members of the caretaker government are not allowed to contest elections.

Transparency in filing nomination papers:

Election Commission of Pakistan worked out minute details of the filing of papers. Six days were given for filing of nomination papers, followed by seven days for scrutiny of those papers. This was followed by four days for filing appeals, and another seven days for decision on these appeals. Finally, one day was given to withdraw nominations and last two days were reserved for publication of final candidates’ lists. Even detainees who wanted to contest elections were brought to the Election Commission to file their nomination papers.

Allegations of pre-poll rigging:

Pre-poll rigging is possible only if either the boundaries of constituencies are altered or voters’ lists are not available to political parties. The government did not alter the boundary of any constituency. The boundaries remain as they were in the 2002 elections. Voters’ lists have been published and are available to the candidates. They are also made available online (on internet) to ensure easy access to everyone. Complaints regarding voters’ lists were addressed by the Election Commission. At the request of opposition parties, the Election Commission has also allowed the use of old National Identity Cards in addition to the computerized National Identity cards.

There are no significant complaints received by the Election Commission from the candidates with whom the lists are available.

Allegation about ghost polling stations:

There is no such thing as ghost polling station. There are more than 64,000 polling stations all over the country. These polling stations, including their exact locations, are notified and known to all candidates and voters and cannot be changed. Each National Assembly constituency has about 250 polling stations. A Returning Officer will head each constituency while a Presiding Officer will supervise each polling station in the presence of representatives of all candidates contesting in that constituency.

Transparency in polling process:

Each candidate can detail a Polling Agent who will monitor the polling process and vote counting. An agent can challenge the casting of a vote if he suspects the voter is not genuine. For the first time transparent ballot boxes will be used for the polling. The ballots shall be cast in the presence of polling agents of all candidates.

On demand from opposition parties, military will be deployed during the elections to ensure administrative impartiality.

Declaration of results:

The votes shall be counted in the presence of polling agents of all candidates who will sign the results. The final results from a constituency shall be declared by the Returning Officer. In previous elections, the results were announced by the Election Commission at the Provincial or Federal levels. That process used to lead to delay at time and allegation of rigging.

Independent election observers:

Election observers from all over the world are welcome. They are free to visit any polling station. These observers are, however, expected to follow certain guidelines that essentially are due to security concerns.

Media coverage of elections:

All political parties are free to publicize their manifesto and hold public meetings. No restriction has been imposed by the government on electioneering. Even the state-owned electronic media such as Pakistan TV, Radio Pakistan and Associated Press of Pakistan are allocating appropriate coverage to all political parties.

Demand for exit polls:

There has never any practice of exit polls either in Pakistan or any country in the region. Exit poll can confuse the voters. It is also not needed when the process is fully transparent and conducted in the process of polling agents of the candidates.

Harassment of candidates:

There has been no instance of harassment of any candidate. In fact, after the tragic assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, the former ruling party’s candidates were harassed, their billboards and properties damaged.

Conclusion:

This is not the first time that elections are being held in Pakistan. In last six decades many elections have been held at national, provincial and local levels. The media reports about rigging of elections are misleading and unjustified. Complaints if any must be specific and should be directed first to the Election Commission.