Human  Rights Report of Pakistan: Karachi Poll Increases Fears of Unfair Election

February 12, 2007: Karachi: Voters’ apathy, keenness by over-excited party workers to inflate the turnout figures, substandard arrangements at polling stations, and the polling staff’s fear of asserting their authority over violent activists were some of the disturbing features of polling in the NA 250 by-election on Saturday, February 10, 2007 reported by a team of HRCP observers.  The main finding by these observers is that unless the Election Commission and the various branches of administration involved in the election process improve their performance many times over, it will be impossible for anyone to believe in their capacity to hold the next general election in a free and fair manner.   

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had undertaken observation of polling in this by-election largely with the object of assessing the level of preparation by the Election Commission and the administrative department to cope with their responsibilities. 

Some of the salient features of the HRCP observers’ report are as follows: 

• The start of polling was delayed by as much as 90 – 150 minutes at several polling stations.  The reasons were non-availability of polling material, lack of authentic voters’ list and the late arrival of polling staff.

• The turnout was pretty low and it was difficult to believe that the final vote count in a by-election came close to the total votes cast in the general election in 2002, and this in spite of the fact that the party that had polled the highest number of votes in 2002 had boycotted the poll this time.

• Security arrangements at polling stations were quite unsatisfactory.  All kinds of people including armed activists were allowed freedom of polling stations.  The police told HRCP observers that their principal concern was to avoid tension.  At a few places the polling staff sought HRCP team’s help to get the polling station cleared of the undesirable intruders. 

• The polling staff at almost all booths was afraid of checking young activists.  “Nobody is going to risk his life for a few hundred rupees (the fee offered for polling duty)”, said a presiding officer. 

• At several polling stations presiding officers came under pressure from polling agents who apparently represented more candidate than the contenders actually in the field, and were often unable to resists their demand to allow people to cast votes without the prescribed identification papers.

• The pattern of interference with orderly polls that Karachi has known for some years was fully evident on Saturday.  At one place a group of people that were stamping ballot papers melted away when they saw HRCP observers but left a pad of counterfoils of these papers to be collected by the latter.   These counterfoils bear voters’ particulars in such orderly sequence as can never be maintained in any election because people generally do not line up before the polling staff in the sequence in which their names are entered on the voters’ list.

• HRCP observers received several complaints from the election office of the PPP candidate that their polling agents were being harassed and forced out of polling stations.  The incidence of manhandling of Mr. Nafees Siddiqui and the damage to his car was also reported.  In one incident MQM supporters were reported to have alleged that that they had been attacked by an armed supporter of the rival candidate. 

The 23-member strong HRCP observers team was headed by a member of the organization’s governing body and included activists with experience of monitoring several elections.  They were drawn from the academia, legal fraternity and women social workers.  The observers arrived at polling stations before the scheduled time of poling and observed the process at different hours including the counting of votes.  Three mobile teams visited different stations to observe the proceedings.  The team was able to gather information from polling staff, security personnel, polling agents and voters.  In the discharge of their duties, the observers were helped by the Returning Officer who kindly issued them the passes required to enter the polling stations and for which HRCP is grateful.  

HRCP has taken note of activities and statements by the provincial and federal authorities, including the head of the state himself, that fall in the category of pre-poll interference.  Further, the presence of local government officials including elected leaders inside some booths vitiated the poll process.    

HRCP cannot but express its apprehension that if the pattern of events witnessed in this by-election gets repeated in the coming general election, the country’s transition to democratic dispensation cannot be safely assumed.

Issued on behalf of HRCP by:
Muhammad Ejaz Ahsan
Program Coordinator
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan