March 18, 2006	Saturday	Safar 17, 1427

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LAHORE, March 17: While the PML-N will discuss measures needed to ensure free and fair elections at a meeting of its central working committee to be held in London on March 25 and 26, its ally in the ARD, the PPP, has identified a number of steps for transparent and impartial polls.

PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif doesn’t think the appointment of Justice Qazi Mohammad Farooq (retired) as chief election commissioner means the government will hold transparent elections.

“They have no intention to hold free and fair elections. They did not take the opposition parties into confidence before appointing a new CEC,” the former chief minister said while talking to Dawn on Friday.

Various opposition parties have been consistently demanding that the CEC should be appointed in consultation with them, and that he should be given all powers to enable him to discharge his duties honestly.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will preside over the first meeting of the new central working committee, which has been delayed by a day because of unavoidable circumstances, Shahbaz said.

Party’s organizational matters, preparations for the next elections and the political situation in the country would also come under discussion, he said.

Asked about his party’s view on a proposal that legislators of all opposition parties should resign together from the assemblies to mount pressure on the government to hold immediate elections, Shahbaz said a decision on the subject would be taken from the ARD’s platform. Still, he said, the utility of the move could be discussed at the London meeting.

Meanwhile, the PPP of Ms Benazir Bhutto has demanded a number of steps to ensure free and fair elections in 2007.

A copy of the document outlining these steps was handed over to the US embassy in Islamabad with the request that the same should be conveyed to President Bush.

The salient features of the document are:

* Intelligence agencies have a major role in manipulating the election. The political wing of the ISI should be disbanded. The Military Intelligence, the Inter Services Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau should be barred from putting together political parties. All election monitoring centres should be disbanded. If they are not disbanded, the Election Commission should be empowered to visit all monitoring centres set up by military and intelligence agencies. These centres should be open to civil scrutiny through observers as well as have representatives of political parties.

* The only qualification for a candidate should be that he/she be a Pakistani and 25 years of age. (The Representation of People Act, 1976, must be amended accordingly)

Election Observers:

* Given the contentious nature of elections in Pakistan, a non-partisan monitoring body is needed to be put together from civil society to appoint observers in every polling station or as many as possible. The Election Commission should permit the observers from sitting in polling booths.

* Transparent election boxes are necessary to ensure they have not been pre-filled (although the danger of switching them during breaks for food or washroom at the polling stations must also be examined).

Ballots are handed over by the Election Commission to the returning officers (RO). The RO in turn gives them to the presiding officers under police protection. Some ballots are siphoned in this process. Number of ballots to each presiding officer must be numbered, the polling list must mention the numbers of the serial. At the end of polling, the presiding officer must account to polling agents number of unused and used serial numbers and give certificate to the same effect.

Prior to the vote, ballots are kept overnight with the ballot boxes at the residence of the presiding officers who take them to the polling station the following day. This presents another opportunity to siphon blank ballots. Usually the intelligence agencies or administration take the ballots to distribute to favoured candidates.

Secondly during the night under orders of the intelligence agencies or of the administration or political government, boxes are pre-filled by presiding officers who then switch them during the day with the boxes that are actually filled.

* There are eight key people in the Election Commission who conduct elections. These include the five members of the Election Commission namely the chief election commissioner and four provincial election commissioners, the secretary, additional secretary and joint secretaries. They should be independent, neutral preferably from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan or any other well-respected NGO.

As the Election Commission enforces its writ through the provincial administration, the chief secretary and the inspector general of police in each province must be appointed by and be answerable to the Election Commission in the three months of the election schedule and conclusion of polls.

* Neutral or national government to conduct elections on the pattern of Bangladesh is necessary to prevent political influence through the use of public media and public funds.

* Neutral chief justices of high courts and neutral registrars are to be appointed for the election period. Election matters go first to the Election Commission and then to the high courts where the chief justices and registrars play a crucial roles. There is little use of an independent Election Commission decision if it is to be stayed or overturned at the high court level where some members of the judiciary have been perceived to be partisan.

The judges chosen to serve on election tribunals must have a reputation for impartiality and must not have sat on high profile political cases.

* A neutral provincial administration is necessary to prevent politically-motivated officers from influencing elections. In particular, the provincial secretaries including the home secretary, should not be former military or intelligence officials.

* The 2002 list should be used with new voters registered. But, unfortunately, two sets of lists are prepared. Candidates are given one voters list i.e., precinct and polling station-wise list, in order to dupe them into believing that all names are included on the voter list. Second lists are given to presiding officers which are entirely different and have 25 per cent to 30 per cent names missing, and people are sent away on polling day, as they run here and there, looking for their names on corresponding lists. Ultimately they are unable to exercise their right to vote as the candidates list has registered them at a particular polling station, but their names are missing from the presiding officer’s list at the same polling station.

The missing votes are then added on to the establishment’s favourite candidate through ghost polling stations, hacking into the Election Commissions computer and other means.

The last date for revision of electoral rolls should be fixed at one month before the elections.

Updated voters list must be maintained on the election list computer so that voters can check electronically to see whether they are registered and at what number.

* The district and sessions judges/additional district and sessions judges/civil judges should be put under the control of the Election Commission of Pakistan for election purposes, and they should be empowered to entertain complaints and take action against anyone found violating the electoral process. Any official or person found involved may be proceeded against, and the Election Commission should be authorised to take appropriate action after hearing the concerned parties.

All presiding officers should be Grade-17 or above as only then they can be out of the influence of the provincial governments.

* The practice of carving up districts in order to break established constituencies of political rivals must be stopped forthwith, and a Boundary Commission on the UK model be established to restore constituencies to non-ethnic and non-parochial criteria and on comparative population sizes.

* A strict ban on the use of state resources for election campaigning must be imposed.

The provisions for severe punishment for returning officers (Section 91 of the People’s Representation Act, 1976) who display partiality must be enforced. The provision should be extended to the district returning officer and a method prescribed for giving speedy effect to the same. The existing Section 91 be enhanced to include presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, district returning officers, returning officers and assistant returning officers. Disposal of appeals should not take more than three months, after which punitive action against the complainant, if found guilty, will automatically take place.

* Voters should be allowed to identity themselves through passport, driving license, arms license etc which are all issued by the government and not only by the national identity card.

The placing of polling station should be in the most populous area in a government building as provided by law.

It should be possible to post applications for fresh voter registrations and deletion of wrong names on the EC website. The entire operation should be made transparent. The name of the polling station on which a voter has to vote should be given against his name on the website. No changes in polling stations can be made at least 45 days prior to elections. Any change should be properly notified so that the general public is fully aware of the change. Votes should be counted on polling stations, and the counts should be put on notice boards outside the polling stations. Progressive results based on the counts received from polling stations should be announced on the media like the procedure employed in the 1970 elections.

The DRO must announce results in the presence of candidates or their agents and international observers. The presiding officer must be bound to provide certified vote count to each polling agent.

An official changing or announcing a new polling station in the final days before the election (when it is illegal) must be immediately punished through suspension from government service for one year. Those refusing to rectify the matter when appealed to under the law must be similarly punished.

Parallel vote count by international observers, NDI and or NGOs is necessary to ensure that the mandate of the masses is not subverted.

Special tribunals should be constituted in each constituency to hear complaints against police, military or intelligence officials involved in taking over polling stations and stamping ballots to punish them immediately through suspension as well as blacklisting the ACR of the official if found guilty.

* All parties should be given an equal campaign time and not be subject to arbitrary prohibitions on campaigning in specific ares which may be open to certain other parties. All contesting parties should be allotted equal time with the government in the state-controlled news bulletins as well as a restriction placed on official or commercially sponsored campaign commercials and advertising on television.