Media

Pakistan Elections Falls Short of International Standards According to EU Election Observation Mission

18 APRIL 2008

Member of the European Parliament, Baroness Emma Nicholson (MEP) and delegate on the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to Pakistan today gave her backing to the Mission’s Final report on the February 2008 National and Provincial elections which found that while improvements had been made from the 2002 poll in Pakistan that “the overall process fell short of a number of international standards for genuine democratic elections”.

Baroness Nicholson MEP visited over 20 polling stations in Lahore on polling day on the 18th February 2008, and took part in the European Parliament delegation that met with President Musharraf and leaders of the main political parties as well as other civil society groups.

Commenting on the publication of the EU EOM report, Baroness Nicholson MEP stated that:  “The February election does represent the will of the people, but the new government and the Election Commission of Pakistan must, as a matter of urgency, take forward the European Union report recommendations if its democracy is to continue to develop.  In particular, their can be no justification to limiting the pool of candidates to only five percent of the population, nor that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of predominantly rural disadvantaged people and women were unable to vote because they did not have the required national identification card”.

Baroness Nicholson also strongly criticised the discriminatory practice against the Ahmadi minority, who are not recognised as Muslims by the Pakistani government. While the Ahmadis were required to register on a separate voter list and therefore boycotted the elections; the Kashmiris in Azad Jammu Kashmir and the Northern Areas (Balawaristan) were constitutionally excluded, yet come fully under Pakistan laws.

The EU EOM Pakistan report does note some positives with the National and Provincial Assembly Elections namely that they were conducted within a “pluralistic process in which a broad range of views were expressed”, that they were “competitive”, that the polling process commanded “increased public confidence” and that “a more significant role was played in these elections by the media and civil society, including by providing greater scrutiny of the process”.

The Report goes on to state that “however, there were serious problems with the framework and conditions in which the elections were held and a level playing field was not provided during the campaign, primarily as a result of abuse of state resources and bias in the state media in favour of the former ruling parties”.

With the election taking place in a security environment described as “difficult” in which “the threat of violence and an atmosphere of fear prevailed” and as many as 150 reportedly killed during the campaign, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party which resulted in “widespread anger, violence and rioting around the country”, the Report commends the “courageous commitment to the democratic process by voters, candidates and party workers, election staff, representatives of media and civil society, and state personnel”.

Further problems identified within the Report include “insufficient provision for the independence of the election administration and transparency in its work”, “multiple deficiencies in the complaints and appeals process”, that only those with a bachelor degree or madrassa qualification can stand as a candidate “which excluded the overwhelming majority of the population”,  “shortcomings in the voter registration process” and an “unreliable electoral roll” and that “significant number” of people could not vote because they did not hold the required national identification card which “affected predominantly the rural poor and women”, “credible reports of police harassment of opposition party workers and agents, public broadcasters failing to live up to their “responsibility to maintain balance”.

Most seriously, the EU EOM highlighted “suspicious results” in a number of constituencies, including “implausibly high turnouts and questionable margins of victory” indicating “the possibility of malpractice”.

Key recommendations of the EU EOM report include:

1.      Steps should be taken to ensure there is an independent judiciary, so that effective oversight of the election process can be undertaken.
2.      The appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and ECP members should be subject to stakeholder consultation and should provide for independence. The ECP should be restructured, and should take full responsibility for its mandated tasks. The election administration should operate in a transparent and consultative manner.
3.      Election legislation should be reviewed in a consultative manner, for example through an all-party constitutional review committee. Specific issues to be addressed include the independence and transparency of the election administration, complaints and appeals procedures, and candidacy requirements.
4.      Election appeals should be dealt with in a timely manner by judges who are independently appointed. Petitions should be permissible from a wider range of election stakeholders.
5.      The law should be amended, and the ECP should issue and enforce instructions, to ensure that all counting and aggregation processes are fully open to scrutiny. This should include detailed polling station results being swiftly displayed at the constituency and on the internet.
6.      The ECP should take full responsibility for the production of an accurate and complete electoral roll. It should work with National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to incorporate any entries not captured through its own enumeration (either from a new enumeration or the one undertaken for the Electoral Roll 07). The data captured should be subject to a comprehensive nationwide check for duplicates.
7.      If only Computerised / National Identity Cards (C/NICs) are permissible for registration and/or voting, acquisition of a CNIC must be facilitated so that there is no barrier to participation.
8.      Freedom of expression should be subject to “necessary” restrictions, rather than “any reasonable restrictions” (Constitution, Article 19) and reform of the legal framework regulating media activities should be undertaken. Restrictions on media content should be reduced, and clear-cut definitions should be introduced.
9.      State media should institute clear and transparent procedures to ensure its news and public affairs broadcasts during an election campaign are impartial.
10.  The government should intensify its efforts to reduce women’s severe under-representation in the electoral process, in accordance with its international commitments under CEDAW and CPRW. Political parties also have a significant role through their internal practices, policy agenda, candidate nomination, and voter awareness.

END

NOTES:

• European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) to Pakistan was led by Michael Gahler MEP.  The European Parliament delegation was led by Robert Evans MEP and was composed of seven MEPs, who observed the polls throughout the election day of Monday, the 18th of February.
• A total of 48 long-term observers (LTOs) were deployed throughout Pakistan covering 65% of constituencies, observing and assessing the different stages of the electoral process in accordance with international standards for elections.
• On election day, the mission had 131 observers, from 23 EU Member States, Norway and Canada, who visited 445 polling stations in 115 constituencies to observe voting, counting and the compilation of results. The EU EOM then observed the results consolidation, and complaints and appeals process, remaining in country until 10 March 2008.
• Pakistan and Pakistani-backed Kashmiri groups strongly criticized the European Parliaments 2007 Report on Kashmir, the draft report authored by Baroness Nicholson that highlighted the democracy deficit in Pakistan – the report was overwhelmingly passed by the European Parliament by a majority of 522 to 9.