November 07, 2007	Wednesday	Shawwal 25, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: The Sustainable Policy Development Institute (SDPI) has demanded that the chief election commissioner of Pakistan should scrap the recently-introduced code of conduct for the next general elections, saying it was developed without proper consultations and was meaningless in the presence of the Representation of People Act 1976.

The institute said it sent a letter to the chief election commissioner on Tuesday, which consists of a set of recommendations and apprehensions finalised in consultation with other civil society organisations.

The SDPI told the election commissioner that there was no need for the code of conduct and that it must be scrapped. If there was any need for such a code then it must be developed through inclusive, meaningful and wide-ranging consultation with all stakeholders - election commission, political parties, human and women rights groups.

It said the election commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the authorities concerned should also fully cooperate and provide security to national and international election monitoring observation bodies.

Keeping in view the growing challenges from fundamentalists, extremists and threats to the democratic governance in Fata and southern and northern districts of NWFP, the government should make foolproof security arrangements and secure environment to the citizens to take part in the election process in these areas, said the letter.

The government should ensure and provide protection to the vulnerable groups such as women, minorities, peasants and workers so that they could take part in the election process without any fear of coercion or intimidation.

The government should also take steps to prevent the intelligence agencies (civil and military) from influencing and manipulating the election process, which is tantamount to the blatant rigging in the electoral process. The government should also close election cells, reportedly established by the intelligence agencies, for systematic rigging, the letter demanded.

It said the ECP should provide a level-playing field to all political parties and stop the rulers including the president from abusing and misusing their positions and government funds for the election campaign of PML-Q and its allies. Equal coverage must be ensured for all contesting political parties on the state- controlled media.

CONCERNS: The letter raised serious concerns over the integrality of the election commission which, the organisation says, has lost public confidence as a neutral body due to its controversial role in the recent presidential election.

“Time and again the ECP has demonstrated that it did not function independently and has ceased to function as a neutral body.”

Amid growing reaction of political parties to the proposed code of conduct, a doubt was expressed over the lack of consultation of ECP with other stakeholders such as political parties and civil society groups.

The ECP was also criticised for not seeking other civil society organisations’ opinions over the code of conduct.