FAFEN urges ECP to release polling scheme, forms

Summarising its mutual understanding with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last week, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Monday noted that confusion about data from 49 polling stations with apparently greater than 100 percent turnout revealed the urgent need for the ECP to release the actual polling scheme, all polling stations vote counts and all forms before certification of any election results.
In a meeting on Thursday, the ECP and FAFEN acknowledged that contributing factors to confusion about FAFEN’s data included returning officers (ROs) changing polling schemes before elections, contrary to Representation of the Peoples Act (ROPA) Article 8(2), and presiding officers giving FAFEN observers hand-written chits with vote counts that sometimes differed from the official statements of the count.
The ECP showed that 11 of the 49 polling stations did not have voter turnout greater than 100 percent. For example: FAFEN reported impossible turnout in PS-14 constituency. According to the ECP website, the polling station was Government Boys Primary School Chak No 116/P Khanpur, with 315 registered voters. Instead, PS-14 was established at Veterinary Hospital Khanpur, where 418 votes were polled, although there was no polling station with this name on the polling scheme shared with voters and public. Last minute changes in the polling scheme have not been notified to voters or public.
Meanwhile, FAFEN has shown the ECP and media several examples of statements of the count with impossible voter turnout as well as other problems. Data from thousands more polling stations are still being analysed by the observer group.
To ensure transparency and legitimacy of the elections, FAFEN has strongly urged that before certifying any election results, the commission should release the actual polling scheme and documents from all 69,801 polling stations and all 272 constituencies, including Form XIV (Statement of the Count), Form XV (Ballot Paper Account), Form VI (Consolidation Statement of the Results of the Count) and Form XVII (Result of the Count).
These ECP forms, which are public documents, are the most important evidence of the quality of election administration and the validity of results in each constituency.
FAFEN believes it had a duty to publish its original data as quickly as possible immediately after Election Day in order to indicate the urgent need for ECP to release all 69,801 Statements of the Count for scrutiny before election results are finalised.