LB polls 'marked with procedural irregularities and illegalities': Fafen
Security officials were seen inside 177 polling stations, FAFEN issued its report on LB polls 2015
LAHORE: (Dunya News) – An impressive number of people turned out to vote in the first phase of the Local Government Election in Punjab held in 12 districts, which were relatively peaceful but marked with procedural irregularities and illegalities that continue to show a weaker grip of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the enforcement of electoral processes, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) reported on Sunday.
The Fafen report was released with the purpose of influencing improvements in the second and third phases of Local Government elections which are due on November 19 and December 5, 2015 respectively. The election in Islamabad Capital Territory is scheduled for November 30, 2015.
FAFEN’s preliminary findings suggest that 177 (71%) of the 249 polling stations across 12 districts of Punjab from where the information could be acquired reported various violations of the electoral procedures, including restrictions on independent observation of voting and counting processes, breach of secrecy of voting, canvassing inside polling stations, presence of security personnel inside polling stations and incidences of interference by security and election staff in the voting processes.
FAFEN’s observation was also curtailed due to arbitrary issuance of accreditation cards by District Returning Officers (DROs) who provided these cards to only 757 observers against permission for 1,013 by the ECP.
The observation was conducted in strict compliance with the ECP’s Code of Conduct for Observers and FAFEN’s own code, which requires observers to be non-partisan, autonomous, independent and accurate in their observations.
In Sindh, the local government elections were not free from procedural irregularities and tainted by the afternoon clash in Khairpur district that claimed lives of 11 political workers.
FAFEN’s preliminary findings reveal that observers in Sindh were barred from observation at 11 (8.2%) out of 134 polling stations and from observation of counting processes at another seven (5.2%) polling stations from where the information could be acquired on Election Day.
Additionally, there were seven (5.2%) polling stations which did not open at the scheduled official time and as many polling stations where secrecy of ballot was breached. There were nine (6.7%) polling stations where parties and candidates were seen canvassing inside the premises. There were also five (3.7%) polling stations where polling was interrupted due to different reasons, while at four (2.9%) polling stations, voters complained against last minute change in their polling station. At another three (2.2%) polling stations, observers reported that the required election material was not available on time, the FAFEN reported.
