ISLAMABAD: In what appears to be a U-turn, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has disowned the post-election report it recently posted on its website, after keeping it a closely-guarded secret for over nine months.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the ECP claimed that the Post-Election Review Report on the General Elections 2013 was not an ECP-sanctioned report, but a summary of the recommendations received from various stakeholders, including international and domestic observers, polling staff and the general public.

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The report was authored by a 15-member committee, headed by ECP Additional Secretary Syed Sher Afgan. There are seven other ECP officials in the committee, five representatives of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and three members from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The report, a copy of which is available with Dawn, bears the ECP insignia on its title and the footer, ‘ECP Post Election Review Report: General Elections 2013,’ is printed at the bottom of every page.

Seemingly in response to questions around the timing of its release, the ECP statement on Tuesday stated that the purpose of the report was to identify areas that required improvement based on observations made during the elections held last year.

The Post-Election Review Report, a strategic plan for 2014-2018 and a Draft Unified Law were presented to the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms in its meeting on Friday (Sept 19). This is why, ECP officials claim, they felt it was prudent to make the report public, as it had already been laid before the people’s representatives present in the parliamentary committee.

The executive summary of the report states: “Self-accountability is the best tool for meaningful reforms, the ECP launched this post-election review process to gather experiences of those who were directly part of the elections, and to use these experiences … and build on improvements introduced prior to the 2013 general elections”.

It was hoped that the report would further contribute to a vibrant discussion and debate that will help to catalyse reforms and contribute to greater improvement in electoral processes.

Reacting to what it termed “distorted comments and reports” from various quarters, the ECP stated on Tuesday that it was time to switch from a witch-hunt to a more truthful analysis.

The Commission announced it was preparing a fact-sheet on various issues being raised regarding the role of returning officers, the printing of ballot papers and the use of magnetic ink. These issues will be deliberated upon by the ECP during this week and the fact-sheet is expected to be laid before the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms at its next meeting.

The Commission explained that the report on the 2013 general elections was yet to be published. It would contain two volumes; one has already been printed and the other is being finalised and would be released shortly.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014