Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) acknowledges the authority and responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in administering elections. ECP official policy is to ensure transparency and openness in election administration. One goal of FAFEN’s pre-election observation methodology is to assist the ECP to demonstrate its commitment to fulfillment of this policy during all stages of the election process. To this end, FAFEN has deployed 110 trained District Long-Term Observers (DLTOs) across the country and equipped them with a comprehensive set of checklists on a wide range of pre-election issues. Data gathered by these DLTOs is the basis for this report.
This FAFEN Pre-Election Update is based on interviews of 87 District Election Commissioners (DECs) conducted by FAFEN DLTOs. These findings were gathered from 31 districts in Punjab, 24 in Sindh, 17 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), nine in Balochistan, five in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and one in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
FAFEN has prepared a standardized interview format consisting of 18 one-off questions asked of the DECs in one-on-one interviews. These questions are based on public information that FAFEN strongly believes will help ECP identify potential problem areas for the upcoming General Election well ahead in time.
The questions pertain to complaint handling mechanisms in place to assist the public; DECs satisfaction with the resources and security made available to them; potential issues that the DECs might be facing in facilitating the marginalized segments of the society such as women, people with disabilities, internally displaced persons and minorities.
The activities being undertaken by FAFEN include access to information on voter registration process — information that needs to be in the public domain and highly visible for people to benefit from it.
Data on voter registration, also being sought by FAFEN as part of its election observation efforts, will assist the ECP in identifying districts with potential voter registration issues.
Lastly, the identification of polling stations across a district is information that directly affects the people in a constituency. The people need to be fully informed of any such developments so that they are able to lodge complaints well in time for the DECs to be able to take corrective measures. The data can also serves as an early warning system for the ECP to identify potential problem areas and address them in time.
For complete report, click here