April 01, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 12, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, March 31: Coercion, lax enforcement of election laws, massive use of the local government apparatus, bogus ballots in women’s polling booths and flaws in the electoral lists marred the by-election to the NA-26 seat in Bannu, held on Thursday, according to Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) observers.

FAFEN, a network of 30 leading civil society organizations, was accredited by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to monitor the poll for the National Assembly seat that fell vacant after the demise of Maulana Naseeb Ali Shah of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA).

A 17-member FAFEN team observed 72 out of 274 (about 26 per cent) polling stations in rural and urban areas of the constituency.

The observation was made through all stages of polling —opening of polling stations, voting and the counting of votes.

In addition to employing standardized observation forms following international standards for domestic monitoring, the delegation interviewed over 200 voters, election officials, polling agents and political party activists, to draw its conclusions, says a report released for the media here on Friday.

The report says, “Voting, particularly in rural polling stations, was marred by a coercive environment created by the supporters of the MMA candidate, Ziyad Durrani, who is also the son of NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani.”

It says that armed men, allegedly supporting the MMA, were present inside many polling stations, apparently supervising the polling process. Supporters of PkMAP’s Dr Habibullah were also seen brandishing weapons inside some polling stations, it says, adding the two sides came close to clashing at several polling stations, but police and area notables helped defuse the tension.

On the other hand, police officials were sitting inside most of the male and female polling stations, instead of manning the gates, as was their mandate.

The report says, in some instances, the local version of Taliban, sympathetic to the MMA, took control of the polling stations and ensured that nobody votes for any candidate other than that of the MMA. “At polling station-189, Rehmatullah School Hyderi Mohammadkhel, FAFEN observers were threatened by the local version of (the) Taliban and asked to leave immediately,” says the report.

It further says in violation of the election laws and the Local Government Ordinance, union Nazims were seen actively engaged in the election campaign and canvassing for votes for Mr Durrani. These Nazims were present inside most of the polling stations.

Most women’s polling booths that were observed by FAFEN were empty throughout the day. At many polling stations witnesses told FAFEN that the area multi-party notables had struck agreements on barring women from voting in their areas. However, surprizingly, during the counting of votes, the number of ballots from women’s polling booths appeared to be much higher than the turnout of women voters.

Another serious flaw in the electoral exercise was the lax enforcement of election laws by the election officials, who appeared unwilling to enforce their mandate either because of a lack of capacity or social and cultural pressures that bar them from asserting the law.

“At one polling station, an assistant presiding officer was seen telling voters to (put a) stamp (on) Mr Durrani’s symbol, the book.

In polling station-21, Government Public School No 5, the assistant presiding officer, in full view of the presiding officer, was giving voters ballots that had already been stamped on this same symbol,” says the report.

FAFEN will make public its final, detailed report and recommendations on Tuesday, April 3, but was able to conclude in this preliminary report that the by-election in Bannu exposed many flaws in election administration that need to be rectified by the ECP, in order to ensure that the forthcoming general election is free, fair and transparent.

INQUIRY DEMANDED: The Aurat Foundation has strongly condemned the reported barring of women voters from casting their vote in the NA-26 by-election in Bannu, held on Thursday, adds Ahmad Hasan Alvi.

Drawing the attention of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) towards reports published in Friday’s newspapers, which said that except for a few polling stations, all others were deserted as there were neither women polling agents for any candidate, nor female voters.

The Foundation has called for holding an urgent inquiry to determine facts and demanded that the election results be withheld till the outcome of the inquiry was made public.

According to a press release, reports indicate that the tribal elders had decided in a meeting that no woman would be allowed to cast her vote in the election.

However, despite these restrictions, some women were able to cast their vote at five polling stations, in the city limits.