PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF THE
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTE-ASIAN NETWORK FOR FREE ELECTIONS
INTERNATIONAL ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION TO PAKISTAN

Islamabad, Pakistan
May 13, 2013

OVERVIEW

This preliminary statement is offered by the joint election observation mission of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL). The mission consists of 48 observers from 18 countries. Observers were deployed to 12 locations in Islamabad and three of the nation’s four provinces, visiting more than 250 polling locations. Security concerns prevented direct observation in Balochistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). However, the mission was in frequent contact with candidates, parties and nongovernmental organizations in those areas to follow election-related developments that were not accessible to the delegation.

Pakistan’s May 11th general elections consisted of 272 distinct contests in separate constituencies for general seats in the National Assembly and 577 contests for general seats in the Provincial Assemblies of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh (as well as contests for 60 seats reserved for women, and ten seats reserved for non-Muslims in the National Assembly and 128 seats reserved for women, and 23 seats reserved for non-Muslims in the Provincial Assemblies). These elections unfolded differently in various parts of the country.

The 2013 elections were a critical step in continuing the nation’s return to democracy, which began five years ago. Millions of Pakistanis expressed their support for the democratic process by voting despite extremist attempt to disrupt the polls. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) estimated voter turnout around 60 percent. Voters’ courage and resolve in casting their ballots despite the mounting violence was a victory for democracy and the people of Pakistan. The stage has been set for the country’s first transfer of power from one democratically elected government to the next.

The campaign period saw the political parties compete vigorously where it was safe to do so. Print and electronic media provided extensive coverage of the candidates and the issues of greatest concern to voters, such as economic growth, energy, high prices, unemployment, education, and security.

The elections saw 456 women candidates contest for general seats in the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies, which is more than twice as many women candidates that contested in the 2008 general elections. However, their numbers remain extremely low, representing only 2.9 percent of the total number of candidates contesting for general seats. More parties and candidates participated in these elections than in the previous general elections. In Balochistan, parties that boycotted the 2008 elections reentered the electoral process and, for the first time in the nation’s history, political parties fielded candidates in FATA.

 See the Full Report Below or Download it Here:

Full Text of Statement as PDF

 

A voter casts his ballot
Photo Courtesy of Olaf Kellerhoff

 

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Election Commission on Sunday endorsed the country’s landmark elections that will see the first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power via the ballot box in the country’s history. It declared the country’s elections for a new national assembly and government leadership as “largely free and fair.” But Pakistani non-governmental observers noted voting irregularities and terror attacks in parts of the country meant that not everyone’s voice was heard.

Free and Fair Election Network CEO Muddassir Rizvi says there were serious incidents of voting irregularities, fraud and intimidation in areas such as in the southern city of Karachi.

“In general, we are not questioning the legitimacy of the process in most parts of Pakistan except for certain constituencies in Karachi, and perhaps some constituencies in Baluchistan where the anti-election campaign was so active that in many instances the election commission could not even set up polling stations,” said Rizvi.

The Election Commission said due to threats, the vote in 43 polling stations in the city would have to be re-held.

The FAFEN network deployed 41,000 observers across the country for the May 11 poll, including high-risk areas that international observers could not reach.  But the group said the level of terror threats in the northwestern tribal areas and the adjoining Khyber-Patunkhwa province made it difficult to determine how fair the elections were in those regions.

Prior to voting day, Taliban and other militant attacks killed more than 100 people, targeting political candidates and supporters of parties they perceived as secular and anti-Islamic.

Jinnah Institute director of policy and programs Raza Rumi says the attacks skewed the political playing field.

“Whatever happened, happened before the polls, because the Taliban had very clearly stated that they would not want the PPP,  the outgoing government, and the liberal ANP and MQM to form the next government or even to campaign, so they had severe campaign challenges.  They could not freely campaign.  There were only two parties that vigorously campaigned, Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League and Imran Khan’s PTI – so we can see the results, that you know, both these parties have done well,” said Rumi.

Initial, unofficial, results show veteran politician and two-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Party far in the lead, and Sharif looks set to lead the country once again.  Former cricketer Imran Khan’s party, that made its political debut in the elections, had a stronger than expected showing, and handed him a strong regional foothold, but not enough to challenge Sharif’s party.

Accountant Abdul Qadeer says although he did not vote for Sharif, he feels the elections were a success.

“I am proud that I casted my vote and that was the indication of my vote. My whole family voted. We voted for Imran Khan, but my full sympathies and full support is for Nawaz Sharif and he should come up and take this nation with him, and he should leave his faults in the previous governments and he should come up with new ideas and new things that will make us a proud nation,” said Qadeer.

The challenges for any new government are considerable. Pakistan has a weak economy, major energy shortages, and powerful extremist and militant groups that the past government was unable to control

The hope appears to be that Sharif, a protégé of Pakistan’s powerful military until he challenged them and found himself in jail, will draw upon his past political experience to tackle these problems.

With expectations running high, Sharif and his party could quickly come under pressure to show effective leadership.

Sources.

http://www.voanews.com/content/national-observers-note-irregularities-in-pakistan-elections/1659593.html

Malaysia GE13: Serious Concerns Require Investigation and Reform

The 5th May 2012 general election in Malaysia, the country’s 13th, had an encouraging record turnout of 80 percent of eligible voters exercising their franchise and the election day processes of polling and counting were generally peaceful. But taking both of those things into account, the healthy turnout and relatively calm polling day, does not override the fact that the electoral process was marred by allegations of fraud, vote-buying, manipulation of the voter’s registry and violence and intimidation of voters. Despite the Surahanjaya Pilihan Raya’s (SPR) dismissal of the alleged frauds and violence having any significant effect on the outcome of the elections, there remain worrying trends, which need to be addressed in the interest of the country and its people.

Throughout the electoral process, one dominant issue was the inefficient voters’ registry with a multitude of allegations regarding enumeration of fake (phantom) voters, repeated names, removal of names of genuine voters’ and also “illegal” registration of migrant labourers from different parts of Asia. In fact, on Election Day a number of cases of detection of ‘migrant voters’ from different parts of Asia has cast some doubts on the integrity of the process. The SPR may need to explain the process of registration of migrants as voters’ and why their names were not deleted even if it turns out to simply be an honest mistake.

At the same time however, ANFREL is certainly concerned at the way vigilante groups were set up by some supporters of political parties and civil society organisations to try and trace “foreign nationals” and prevent them from voting. Several cases from across the country of the interception of supposed “non-Malaysian migrants” at polling stations by self-styled vigilante groups had the potential of sparking unrest amongst supporters of the contesting political parties. Such trends do not bode well for the growth of free and justifiable electoral practices in Malaysia and must be discouraged and prevented. No social groups or organisations should be taking the law into their own hands when the law and order machinery in the country can and should be doing it themselves. If migrant workers from other countries have been fraudulently registered as voters’ then it is the duty of the SPR in collaboration with other state agencies to take appropriate action and de-register the migrants from the voter list. Under no circumstances should migrants be abused or assaulted due to their ethnicity, as was the case in a number of areas on the polling day.

To avoid such situations, and ameliorate several of the other issues mentioned, it is recommended that the SPR should not be averse to setting up a more comprehensive Voter’s Registration Audit (VRA) involving a diverse swath of stakeholders and opposition groups. In fact, there have long been complaints by opposition parties to clean up the voter’s list in order to have a clean and credible election. It is hoped that the authorities concerned respond to these voter list problems and take the proper follow-up actions on the judicial review petitions filed by a number of opposition MPs to compel the election management body to clean up the electoral roll.

The traditional media’s election coverage, before, during, and after the election, was troublingly one-sided. Partisan coverage that was consistently and transparently favorable to Barisan Nasional (BN) on broadcast media and in major newspapers seriously prevented the creation of a level playing field for the election. Such censorship and control over the media inhibits the development of a fair election system and robs all Malaysians of the necessary knowledge and fair coverage they are entitled to in order to be better-informed voters.

With traditional media dominated by the ruling coalition, cyber attacks/interference on alternative media outlets that rely so heavily on their Internet presence were particularly damaging to the principles of a free press and freedom of expression in the country.  Authorities, including the SPR, must investigate those responsible in cyber attacks against news media reporting opposition campaigns, which greatly impinged freedom of expression and functioning of a free press during the entire pre-election period beginning early in 2012.

The ruling coalition’s abuse of their incumbency to deliver populist programs aimed at specific constituencies and motivated by the coming elections was another factor in unfairly tilting the playing field in their favor. While precise estimates of the money spent cannot be determined, the final total is undoubtedly significant. Whether at the federal or state level, this kind of blurring of the line between government programs and campaign activities is an abuse of public resources. In several clear examples, there was seemingly no distinction between campaign advertising and government public information campaigns. This kind of spending is not only an abuse of the taxpayer’s money and unfair to those parties out of power, it can also distort the pursuit of good governance and sound policy making.

Violence has been at an all time high. According to a Freedom House report, the police recorded over 2,000 attacks since the parliament was dissolved on April 3rd. The nature of the violence reported ranges from physical attacks on persons, arson, destruction of property, bombings and various other incidents of threats and intimidation to voters. All incidents certainly deserve proper investigation and explanation from the election commission as otherwise, the outcome of the elections and the way the electoral process was managed will continue to raise doubts in people’s minds, a development that certainly will not augur well for future elections and the strengthening of democracy in Malaysia.

The reports that were received from different states and electoral constituencies regarding the use of indelible ink, especially the variations in quality provides sufficient room to question the process of procurement of the ink and whether the cases of easy removal of the ink from the finger led to any form of manipulation of the votes. The election management body has been questioned a number of times on its preparedness on application of indelible ink as this was the first time the ink was used.  A total of 1,069 complaints regarding easy removal of the indelible ink was received by the election commission.

The number of independent election observers was inadequate considering that there were a large number of electoral constituencies with as many as 8,245 polling stations. The fact that most of the accredited domestic election observers were bound by strict rules preventing them from publishing their findings, the absence of independent observers was truly felt. There were laudable attempts made by civil society groups under the banner of ‘Pemantau Pilihan Raya’ led by Bersih to monitor the elections, but SPR imposed restrictions barring Pemantau direct access to information and entry to polling stations made it difficult to make for a completely impartial assessment and documentation of the electoral process before and on the polling day. The arrest of seven Pemantau observers on the election day for unknown reasons further added to the inadequacies in the observation process.

All irregularities mentioned here deserve independent, robust and timely investigation by the SPR and relevant state agencies. The election commission must thoroughly investigate all the complaints recorded so far and respond to the allegations made by various groups and provide sufficient proof that the alleged incidents mentioned above did not disturb the integrity and the credibility of the outcome of the election.

While the BN and its supporters are convinced that the elections were legitimate, the opposition and members of the Civil Society, particularly the Pemantau from the Bersih Coalition have expressed serious reservations and are contemplating on challenging the outcome. The post election climate so far has been peaceful with reports of no major untoward incidents, but given that the opposition and Civil Society groups are demanding explanations from the election commission regarding violations and alleged manipulation, the latter must provide some clarification to the people and can begin to do so by proceeding with a professional investigation of the complaints filed by various sources. Doing so will help make significant progress towards restoring the public trust.

Moreover, the government should guarantee the freedom of those wishing to express their thoughts about the elections via peaceful means. Without greater transparency and clarification into the issues raised, the SPR’s professionalism will be called into question. On the other hand, a proactive and effective response to complaints by those in power can keep society from becoming more div
ided and will help reverse any further deterioration of public trust of the electoral results and the democratic process itself.

NEOC_Pre-Election Monitoring Report Download

Summary
A three-day workshop on Parliament monitoring using very useful tools like Right To Information (RTI), which has become an Act now and other monitoring mechanisms was held in New Delhi between Dec 3 to Dec 4 and on Dec 6, 2012 for Civil Society workers, legal professionals and writers from Burma. The workshop was essential for the Burmese group in that it focused on the fundamental elements of how democracy functions through a parliamentary system of governance.

Burma Parliamentary Monitoring Workshops and One-Day Conference in New Delhi > Picture

Election Observation Training for Civil Society organisations and Election Monitoring
Groups in Malaysia

Election Observation Training for Civil Society organisations and Election Monitoring > Picture

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Download the full report here on COMFREL’s Website:  http://bit.ly/W9b2mP 

NEOC holds a much needed dialogue on the constitutional deadlock facing Nepal, 3rd February (See more pictures below)

Download the Press Statement from the Dialogue here or read it embedded below:

NEOC Press Release

For more info on Nepal, visit NEOC’s website at http://neocelection.org

Uniformed Polling Station Security Stands Ready Outside the Polling Station

Indonesia finally conducted the Papuan gubernatorial election on 29 January 2013 after years of postponement due to legal obstacles and conflicts. A total of 2,705,775 registered voters across 29 regencies were eligible to vote at the 6,961 polling stations in the province.  They could choose from 6 pairs of candidates for governor and vice-governor.  All of the candidates were native Papuans representing tribes from mountain and coastal areas. The six pairs were Noakh Nawipa  – Johanis Wob, Manase Robert Kambu – Blasius Pakage, Lukas Enembe – Klemen Tinal, Welington Wenda – Weynand Watory, Alex Hasegem – Marthen Kayi, and Habel Melkias Suwae –Yop Kogoya.

 ANFREL’s Executive Director Ichal Supriadi was on hand in Papua to witness the voting.  Although the polling generally went smoothly, there was one reported murder in the highlands where a local politician in Tolikara regency who was affiliated with the Golkar Party defied his own kinsman, who had agreed to support another ticket and, as a consequence, was beaten to death. It was also reported that the Elections Commission office and Government facilities were set on fire by a mob in Mamberano-Tengah regency, and there was fear that violence would escalate after final results were announced. Elections in the highlands historically are notorious due to close competition among the candidates who try to influence tribal elders and other respected leaders by means of money or intimidation to get their support.  In addition, it is difficult to maintain the neutrality of elections officials.

Papuan elections have some unique characteristics. The majority of voters live in the highlands, which are often not very accessible to outsiders, including coastal dwelling Papuans.  In addition, there are strong tribal bonds and feelings of community, with the result that a community frequently decides by consensus the candidate that each of its members will support. As a result, the Elections Commission allows for “noken” voting methods. Noken is a net-like traditional bag used to replace the ballot boxes, with votes cast according to the communal decision.  The tribal elder/head of the tribe plays a significant role in deciding how the tribe will vote.  This system is  subject to manipulation, abuse of power and intervention by the government bureaucracy.

Although not perfect, the Papua elections appear to have been relatively clean.