ISLAMABAD: In order to make the electoral process transparent and democratic, independent election observers have decided to deploy at least two volunteers at every polling station across Pakistan for monitoring the polling exercise during the upcoming by-polls and general elections.

The decision has been made by Pattan and Coalition 38 – an umbrella organisation of several civil society organisations, labour unions, and intellectuals.

Media Coordinator William Pervaiz, while talking to Dawn, said that whenever the next elections would be held the volunteers will be present at polling stations to observe elections and register voting citizens.

“An app, having around 10 questions, will be shared with each of the volunteers so they will have to tick or cross the questions in the app,” he said. When asked about the questions, he said that there will be simple questions regarding the voting atmosphere. “It is possible that the observer would not be allowed to carry the cell phone along with them so they will be told to fill the questioner, in the app, just after coming out of the polling station.”

He added, “As a number of ballot papers are rejected because of lacking signatures on the rear side of the ballot paper so volunteers will observe that if Assistant Presiding Officers were signing the ballot papers.”

“Other questions will be if secrecy was being ensured, camps of political parties were at what distance from the polling stations, and if voters were being pushed to cast vote in favour of a specific party,” Mr Pervaiz said. He said that there will be an optional question from the volunteer about the voting choice.

“Two male volunteers will be selected for male polling stations and two females for female polling stations. Volunteers must have the vote registered in the polling station and they will not be paid for the service,” he said.

While replying to another question, Mr Pervaiz said that at least 10,000 volunteers were already registered and efforts would be made to register two volunteers for each polling station across the country so that a complete and authentic report would be released after the completion of polling.

‘Alienated’ political class

The statement issued by the alliance stated that political class instead of deepening its roots in people has alienated itself from citizens and social movements. As a result, elections have failed to deepen democratic norms, to provide good governance, and establish political stability in the country. This situation could be reversed by enhancing and empowering citizens’ roles in elections and beyond.

“In this regard, we have developed a Participatory Election Observation and Analysis Programme (Peoap) and we are happy to share its salient features with the public through media. The Peoap stands on three main pillars: first, voters will not only observe polling during the casting of their vote but also electioneering in their neighbourhood. For this purpose, we have already started the registration process. The registered voters will be called Affiliated Voters (AVs). It is worth stating here that AVs will perform this role on a pro bono basis,” it stated.

“Second, we will not seek funding from any foreign funding agency for the participatory election observation. This is extremely important for us to build the trust of the public and stakeholders in election observation and democracy,” it said, adding that to cover expenses the organisation was raising funds from Pakistanis and individuals living here and overseas.

“The third pillar of our Participatory Election Observation Programme is the use of highly advanced technology. This will radically eliminate chances of tampering and unwanted interference. The system will filter the uploaded information instantly. The uploaded data will be analysed by the system, and real-time dissemination will be ensured on the polling day to media and stakeholders through a dashboard,” it stated.

“This kind of organic, indigenous, and independent election observation has never been practiced in our country as well as globally at this scale. We are also pleased to inform the public that Pattan has already tested this methodology in recently held by-election and its findings were shared with the media,” the statement concluded.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2023