ECP Curtails Campaigning at Polling Stations in PK-70 Bannu-I By-Election

ISLAMABAD, August 28, 2012: In a major improvement, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) managed to curtail the campaigning and canvassing at polling stations and presence of unauthorized persons inside polling stations in a relatively low turnout yet peaceful by-elections in PK-70 Bannu-I held on Tuesday.

However, there continued to be instances of improbable turnouts, suspicious voting patterns and police presence inside poling stations. Women vote counted also appeared to be much higher than the women actually turning out to vote at polling stations, indicating their votes might have been cast through proxies.

The seat was vacated due to death of MMA’s Mr. Ziyad Akram Durrani who was elected by securing 26,701 of a total of 43,448 polled votes in 2008 general elections when the turnout remained 36.85%.

The ECP set up 102 polling stations – 30 male, 26 female and 46 combined. The polling stations included 248 polling booths – 150 male and 98 female. There were 84 polling stations established during 2008 general elections. A total of 125,958 voters were registered for the by-election in PK-70 (Bannu-I) – 75,024 male and 50,934 female. That is 8,042 more voters than the number of registered voters in the 2008 general elections.

FAFEN deployed 15 trained and accredited observers – 11 male and 4 female – to monitor the voting and counting processes at 90% of polling stations. The observers spent between 45 and 60 minutes in each polling station to document their observations and findings on a standardized checklist based on the provisions of the Representation of the Peoples Act 1976, Conduct of Elections Rules 1977, and instructional handbooks that the ECP has provided to election officials.

This preliminary report is based on observation of 85 polling stations – 27 male, 22 female and 36 combined.  Some of FAFEN’s key findings include:

1. Improbable Turnout at three Polling Stations

Although the voter turnout in by-election was 34.4%, it remained extraordinarily high at three polling stations – greater than 75%. At these polling stations, an overwhelming majority of votes went to the candidate of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F). At PS-50, the turnout remained 77%, with 98% of total polled votes going to JUI-F candidate. At PS-69, the turnout remained 87%, with 99% votes going to the JUI-F candidate. Similarly, PS-90 recorded 93% turnout, all going to the JUI-F candidate.

2. Suspicious Voting Patterns

FAFEN observers recorded suspicious voting patterns at 7 polling booths at as many polling stations – 4 at combined, two at female-exclusive and one at male-exclusive polling stations. If polling is most efficient and each voter takes an average of one minute and 30 seconds for processing (checking of name, checking of CNIC, issuance of ballot paper, going behind secrecy screen, stamping a ballot and returning the stamp to the assistant presiding officer), about 45 ballots can be cast in one hour at a booth. Therefore, an average rate per hour higher than 45 brings into question the speed with which votes were being processed. The rate of voting was higher than possible at 7 booths of the polling stations listed in the following tables.

3. Turnout

According to FAFEN observers reporting from 15 randomly sampled polling stations – 5 male, 4 female and 6 combined — the voter turnout remained 34.41%, slightly lower than the turnout in the 2008 general elections. The turnout at male polling stations was recorded at 19 percent, 27 percent at female polling stations and 51 percent at combined polling stations. The relatively higher voter turnout at sampled female and combined polling stations is because of extraordinary turnout at one female and two combined polling stations where it remained between 77% and 93%.

4. Fraudulent Voting

Additional counterfoils were filled on the ballot books at 10 polling stations whereas ballot papers were issued without filling the counterfoils at 5 polling stations, indicating strong possibility that fraudulent votes were stuffed in ballot boxes. At one of the three booths at PS-93, the election staff had issued 355 ballots by 11:00 am but the ballot box showed far lower number of ballots, suggesting that the election staff had issued two ballots per minute but fewer of them were cast.

5. Unauthorized Persons Inside Polling Stations

Security officials were present inside 70 polling stations. Under electoral rules, even at sensitive polling stations, police is only authorized to maintain order outside polling stations in order to ensure smooth polling.

FAFEN observer reported the presence of local influential persons inside 5 polling stations. Two instances were reported where some of these unauthorized persons were attempting to persuade voters to favor a certain political party or a candidate. Similarly, they were seen trying to influence the election staff at one polling station.

Other unauthorized persons carrying party symbols or wearing party badges were seen inside one polling station. Likewise, party workers were seen trying to persuade voters to favor a certain candidate and influence election officials in 8 polling stations and 3 polling stations, respectively. At one polling station a candidate was seen inside polling station with his armed bodyguards.

Polling agents were seen to have gone behind the secrecy screen at one polling station and at another a polling agent was found to be stamping the ballot on behalf of a voter. People who had already voted were present in 10 polling stations.

6. Campaigning and Canvassing around Polling Stations

The workers of contesting candidates were seen campaigning and canvassing at four polling stations in violation of election laws that bar the same within 400 yards of polling stations. However, this is a major enforcement improvement as earlier by-elections witnessed such instances at majority of polling stations.

FAFEN Recommendations

Having observed the aforementioned irregularities during the by-election, FAFEN recommends:

• The ECP should ensure that security officials perform only their designated duty of maintaining law and order outside of polling stations and do not attempt to manage election officials.

• The ECP should take disciplinary action against polling station officials who interfered with and influenced the voting process.

• The ECP should reprimand all election officials who failed to enforce the election rules and laws.

The ECP and all provincial, district, and local election officials should administer each by-election with the same vigilance and attention to enforcing the law and procedures as during any general election. The result of any by-election not administered vigilantly should be voided.

• To eliminate unauthorized people from being in polling stations:

1. Presiding Officers should be encouraged and provided adequate protections to use their magisterial powers.
2. All polling officials must be required to carry their Government Service Cards to prove their identity on Election Day.
3. Polling officials should ensure that only one polling agent representing each political party – and carrying proper identification from their party – is permitted in each polling booth.
4. Only people carrying proper identifications should be permitted inside polling stations and allowed to vote.
5. Adequate security checks should be performed in order to prevent unauthorized and armed persons in and around polling stations.
6. All polling officials must be required to carry their Government Service Cards to prove their identity on Election Day.

• Adequate training of all polling officials must be ensured for all by-elections.

• Polling officials should ensure that all campaign materials and camps are removed from around the polling stations.

• More generally, given the consistent weaknesses in ECP by-election administration, by-elections should be minimized by restricting each candidate in general elections to contesting in only one constituency.

About FAFEN

The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), a coalition of 42 leading Pakistani civil society organizations, was established in 2006 to observe election processes, educate voters, and advocate for electoral and democratic reform.