ISLAMABAD: A coalition of over three dozen NGOs joining hands for meaningful electoral reforms has revealed that as many as 71,397 irregularities and violations of electoral processes were observed at 38,274 polling stations in 263 National Assembly constituencies in last year’s general election on May 11.

In a statement issued here on Friday, two days before the first anniversary of the 2013 general election, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) said that 5,142 instances of “critical irregularities” related to pre-voting preparations and procedures were recorded in 3,449 polling stations.

Voter identification procedures were not implemented in as many as 2,567 polling booths while ballot processing procedure for each voter was not adhered to in 3,054 booths. Incidents of ballot stuffing were observed in 1,303 booths and incidents of voter and polling official intimidation in 2,435 booths.

The process of vote counting and consolidation were closely observed in 16,933 polling stations. The observers recorded as many as 17,358 incidents of procedural violations in the vote counting processes. They also recorded 7,331 irregularities and violations in documentation and dissemination of polling station level results.

In its analysis of the election results of 266 constituencies, Fafen identified several other areas of concern. The first such issue is a significant increase in the number of rejected votes which rose from 775,720 in 2002 to 973,694 in 2008 and to an all-time high of 1,502,717 in 2013 — an increase of 54 per cent compared to 2008 elections.

The issue is critical not merely because of the number but also given the skewed distribution across constituencies and regions — the number ranged from zero in NA-53 to 25,562 in NA-266.

From the results perspective, the issue is highlighted further by the fact that the number of rejected votes exceeded the margin of victory in 35 of the 266 constituencies analysed.

Fafen urged all political parties and parliamentarians to immediately initiate a dialogue on wide-ranging reforms to improve the electoral system. It called for giving complete authority to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over electoral officials and processes to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.

Fafen was of the opinion that the legislative and procedural framework which governed elections in the country had become obsolete, leaving ample opportunities and spaces for irregularities that created an environment conducive to rigging.

Unless independence of the ECP is translated into complete authority and erring electoral officials drawn from the lower judiciary and the executive are taken to task, the credibility of elections will continue to be questioned.

Fafen proposed a set of reforms to bring in institutional and legal framework that would help ensure a more transparent, fair and accountable electoral system in the country. The ECP should be given authority to appoint election officials, including the district returning officers (DROs) and returning officers (ROs), with full powers over the seconded staff to direct, sanction and remove them for misconduct. The serving judges of the superior and subordinate judiciary should not be assigned the responsibilities as DROs and ROs because it can influence the dispute settlements in post-election phases.

The ECP needs to be empowered to exercise its constitutional authority over government entities to ensure that they do not get involved in electoral processes without specific direction from the commission, and if found guilty, the ECP can suspend any public functionary who, during an election, fails to comply with its directives, despite issuance of notice.

The presiding officers should be given full authority over police and security forces in enforcing the rules at polling stations to avert any interference in the voting. The ECP should allow public access to its records and meetings and for public consultation in decision-making processes and issue regular reports to parliament — annually and after each general election — in order to ensure transparency in the elections.

Any decision made by the ECP or any of its designated official should not be subject to judicial review after the announcement of the election schedule and until the announcement of the official election results to minimise judicial interference and subsequent delays in the electoral process.

A senior ECP official admitted that the commission did not have complete control over temporary polling staff, including DROs, ROs, presiding officers and security officials. “The ECP cannot take action against them for any deliberate attempt of fraud,” he said.

Control over the polling staff and security personnel performing election duty was part of the reforms package proposed by the ECP before the 2013 general elections, but legislative work could somehow not materialise, the official added.