ISLAMABAD: The Free and Fair Election Network
(FAFEN) has called upon Chief Election
Commissioner Justice (Retd) Qazi Muhammad Farooq
to take immediate measures to bridge the gap
between the 18-year-old or above population and
the number of voters registered on the draft
electoral rolls currently on public display
throughout the country.
"Millions of voters who are not on the draft
electoral rolls need to be registered in order to
conduct a credible election. The Chief Election
Commissioner (CEC) must take a decisive action to
rectify the situation either through an executive
order or by seeking support from legislature or
the President," reads an open letter sent to the
CEC by FAFEN.
FAFEN, in its letter, suggests that every citizen
who has been issued a Computerized National
Identity Card (CNIC) and is on the NADRA rolls
must automatically be included on the electoral
rolls. "The objective should be to enable as many
people as possible to vote in the upcoming
election."
FAFEN says that such out of box options are
required to be considered in view of serious
flaws in the implementation of the ongoing
process of the display of draft electoral rolls,
as indicated by its findings from the first week
of data collection at 1,037 Display Centres by
its 750 observers throughout the country. Some of
these problems could be addressed in the
remaining days of the display period that will
end on July 3, 2007.
According to FAFEN findings, 88.0% of ECP Display
Centre Information Officers (DCIOs) mistakenly
believe that “it is necessary” for citizens to
bring their CNIC/NIC cards to the Display Center
in order to register to vote. Many eligible
voters who cannot provide a photocopy of their
NIC/CNIC card are being turned away from Display
Centres by the DCIOs.
However, the ECP Manual of Instructions for
Display Centre Information Officers (page 6,
English version) states clearly that a citizen
must provide their CNIC/NIC number, but "it is
not required that a citizen bring his or her
CNIC/NIC to the Display Centre". A citizen must
have their CNIC/NIC number with them in order to
get registered.
Moreover, 86.5% of DCIOs believe wrongly that a
judicial Revising Authority (RA) will "hold a
hearing for every person who files a form to add
their name to the electoral roll". Citizens are
being informed by DCIOs that they must attend a
hearing in another location at a later date, an
additional step that is deterring many people
from completing the voter registration process.
However, the ECP Manual of Instruction (page 7,
English version) states that DCI Os should
instead inform citizens that their "claim for
inclusion [on the electoral roll] will be
reviewed in a summary inquiry by a Revising
Authority who is a judge“and”The Revising
Authority may call the citizen to a hearing if
he/she is not satisfied with the claim for
inclusion".
Similarly, only 0.4% of DCIOs are female and
there are no separate areas at any of the Display
Centres for female eligible voters to receive
assistance in order to fill out the necessary ECP
form to add their names to the electoral roll.
The lack of female DCIOs and separate Display
Centres for women is inexcusable given that the
percentage of registered women voters on the new
electoral roll is significantly decreased from
the percentage who were registered on the
previous voters’ list, and given the fact that
cultural factors will prevent many women from
receiving assistance from a male DCIO to fill out
their forms for inclusion as voters.
Additionally, 29.8% of DCIOs reported that they
received no training at all, and an additional
7.2% (for a total of 36%) said they were "not
satisfied" with the training they received. The
ECP has a responsibility to train fully the
personnel who are serving the public in Display
Centres during a process of such national
importance and priority.
As many as 31.9% of DCIOs are "not satisfied with
the security arrangements" at their Display
Centers, and 14.2% DCIOs have no "cell phone or
other way to call for help" if there is a
problem. Election security is of vital importance
and should have been given much more attention,
given historical experience of electoral
intimidation in some locations including reent
by-elections in Karachi, Jamshoro, Bannu, and
Jhang observed by FAFEN and given the current
tense (and sometimes violent) political
environment.
FAFEN urges the CEC to issue an immediate
instruction/ clarification to all DCIOs through
the Assistant Election Commissioners (AEC s),
Registration Officers (ROs), and Assistant
Registration Officers (AROs) to allow eligible
voters to fill out ECP Form IV for inclusion on
the electoral roll even if they do not have their
CNIC/NIC with them, as long as they have their
CNIC/NIC number.
Moreover, DCIOs must also be instructed to tell
eligible voters that a Revising Authority might
call them for a hearing about their request for
inclusion on the electoral roll, but that
Revising Authorities will review the requests
with a summary inquiry that in most cases will
not require a hearing.
Extension in the outreach of Display Centres is
also required, particularly to female eligible
voters. This can be done by recruiting and
training urgently as many female DCIOs as
possible, establishing separate Women’s Display
Centres, and making some male and female DCIOs
mobile.
At the same time the ECP needs to put in place
effective monitoring mechanisms now and during
the elections to alert it to problems in
electoral administration in a timely and
effective way, potentially engaging civil society
in this effort.
About FAFEN:
The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) is a
coalition of thirty leading Pakistani civil
society organizations. It was established in 2006
to observe the election process, educate voters,
and advocate for electoral and democratic reform.