ISLAMABAD, Aug 19: People’s Party Parliamentarian’s (PPP) request that the announcement of election results should be decentralized for the sake of transparency has been turned down by the government, a PPP source told Dawn.
The demand was made by the president of the newly-formed PPP, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, in a three-hour meeting with President Musharraf held here on Saturday.
It has been the longstanding demand of People’s Party that results be compiled and announced at the district level and not at the federal level, a procedure followed during the 1990 and 1997 elections.
In the 1988 general elections the vote-count had been announced by presiding officer and returning officer at the district level, he added.
The PPP president also conveyed to the president that his party had some reservations about the awarding the contract to Nestol, a company owned by Nasim Ashraf, who recently became the focus of controversy.
“The company is already in trouble due to a conflict of interest with a serving cabinet member benefiting from the government contract,” a PPP spokesman said.
The release of all political prisoners, including Asif Ali Zardari and withdrawal of politically-motivated cases against the opposition members, were other issues which were vainly raised by Fahim.
“The talks remained inconclusive” the PPP spokesman said.
The spokesman refuted reports that Fahim had sought some assurances from President Musharraf regarding Ms Bhutto’s return to the country.
The government had termed the Musharraf-Fahim meeting as part of the ongoing consultations it was holding with political leaders.
President Musharraf, before meeting Fahim, had met the chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed. Pir Pagara, the veteran Muslim Leaguer, also had a meeting with the president last week.
BENAZIR: The PPP Chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, has asked the Chief Election Commissioner, Justice Irshad Hasan Khan, to ensure transparency in counting of votes in the coming elections, adds our reporter.
In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Irshad Hasan Khan, Benazir Bhutto summarised the process of vote counting and wrote that the Presiding Officer (PO) would count votes on close of poll in the presence of candidates agents.
She said according to schedule, the PO will give certified copy of results to agents and display results at a prominent place at the polling station.
The PO will also send a copy of result to the RO of the constituency. The RO will collect results of all polling stations and convey them to the DRO, who in turn will send result to the provincial election commission, which will send it to the EC.
She said it was during the this period when the DRO will send results to the provincial election commission which sends it to the EC when the rigging begins.
The vote count is no longer before the eyewitness representatives of the candidates. It was due to this the observers said the turnout in 1997 was 16 per cent, yet the Election Commission counted nearly 50 per cent vote in the Punjab province alone, she added.
Asking the CEC to adopt a British pattern of vote counting, she wrote: “PPP is insisting that the vote count be done on the British pattern with the votes being compiled after the presiding officers count at the returning officer’s desk and announced immediately. This is the only way to ensure that the sanctity of the vote is preserved.”
The PPP chairperson also expressed concern over the reports about granting a contract for computer software for the Election Commission to a company which belongs to a sitting federal minister.
In her letter, she wrote: “It is also of concern that the computerization of the count has, according to reports, been given to a company called Nestol which is managed by a cabinet minister.”
“There is a direct conflict of interest with a sitting minister benefiting himself from cabinet contracts. Moreover, he has a direct interest in ensuring that the present regime continues with a view to saving his cabinet appointment.”
Stressing the need for a transparent election process, the former premier said: “The entire eyes of the world community are on Pakistan. The name and reputation of our beloved country within the international community depends on it living up to the standards of fundamental human rights and the rule of law.”
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