PTI faces rigging charges

• Major political leaders blame PTI for massive rigging in KP LB elections, blast PTI chief for tall claims
• FAFEN records mismanagement, violence and barring of women voters in KP elections

While Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan blames the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for mishandling the local bodies (LB) elections in Khyber Patkhunkhwa (KP), serious accusations of rigging the provincial polls have emerged against the party led by the cricketer-turned-politician who has been himself crying rigging in last general elections.

While leaders from major political parties have accused the PTI-led KP govt of rigging, Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its report has also highlighted rigging in the provincial polls.

Federal Minister for Information Senator Pervaiz Rashid Sunday said large-scale mismanagement and widespread irregularities, were committed in the local government (LG) elections held in KP on May 30, having no precedent anywhere.

“The PTI secured just 25 per cent votes in the LG polls, while its opponent parties got 75 per cent,” he said adding that it reflected the fact that KP people had expressed no-confidence in Imran Khan.

PPP, MQM DISAPPROVES:

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari alleged that KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak rigged the LB elections, demanding ECP investigates the matter.

In a statement, he said that rigging was apparent in several areas in KP local government elections. He said that PTI led-government in KP resorted to pre-poll rigging and two days before elections former PPP Minister Liaqat Shabab was arrested which is an example of pre-poll rigging.

Moreover, MQM chief Altaf Hussain said thousands of women voters from barred from right to vote. He demanded that KP LB polls be declared null and void. The MQM head said re-election should be ordered under supervision of independent observers.

ANP IS PERPLEXED:

Awami National Party (ANP) President Asfandyar Wali has also alleged massive rigging in LB elections by PTI and said they would not accept the results.

Giving his reaction over a private TV channel about the LG elections on Sunday, the ANP leader said that a basis has been laid by PTI for rigging in election and pointed that even a coalition partner of the provincial government has admitted the rigging.

He said after these allegations, there is no legal and constitutional basis for the local government elections. He said it is surprising that if rigging takes place in Punjab, the caretaker government and a political party is held responsible but when it happens in KP, the entire blame is put on ECP.

Wali said the ANP would decide the next course of action after consultations. He questioned PTI whether rigging of elections was the foundation of a new Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa.

JUI-F SEES RECORD BREAKING RIGGING:

Moreover, JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman accused the PTI of breaking all the records of rigging elections and said his party would not accept the results. He said that the whole election process has been opened to question in KP at the hands of those who were demanding opening of bags of 2013 general elections.

He said the PTI workers raided polling stations and took away the ballot boxes. He also criticised the mismanagement during polling by pointing out that at a number of places, polling staff was not present while at several others the election symbols of candidates were missing.

FAFEN REPORTS:

In the meanwhile, FAFEN estimated up to 26 percent rigging in the recently held LB polls in KP.

An impressive number of voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa turned out to elect their local council representatives on Saturday in the largest-ever electoral exercise in the province, says FAFEN.

Although the campaign period remained peaceful to a large extent, Election Day was marked by administrative mismanagement, extremely slow processing of voters, procedural irregularities and several reports of violence and bar on women voters.

Despite the massive scale and evolving legislation and regulatory framework, the ECP managed to conduct the polls on the date assigned by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in its order on March 6, 2015.

FAFEN’s initial findings showed that political parties and contesting candidates, particularly for tehsil and district councils, were freely breaching the electoral law that bars all sorts of canvassing within a 200 meters radius around polling stations.

Nearly 13 per cent of the polling stations were reported to have opened after the official voting time of 8am. District-wise, these delays were reported from 14 out of 24 districts. Most instances of delayed start were reported from Mardan, followed by Peshawar, Lakki Marwat, Swabi, Bannu, Swat and Karak.

The delay in opening was caused by various reasons, such as late arrival of polling officials; logistical arrangements; unavailability of essential election material (voters’ lists, stationary, ballot boxes etc.) and erroneous printing of ballot papers. Polling was also delayed due to overzealous voters and polling agents who interfered with the work of polling officials.

A total of 81 incidents of violence were reported from 19 districts, indicating a highly tense political environment on the election day.

FAFEN observers also reported 19 incidents of polling stations being captured by the supporters of contesting candidates and political parties in nine districts. Around 26% of such incidents were reported from Haripur, followed by 16% each from Peshawar and Bannu.

Although the participation of women voters improved considerably compared to previous polls in the province, obstacles to women’s voting were, nevertheless, prevalent in several areas.

Incidents of barring women from voting were reported from at least one polling station in 80 out of 462 wards. Although women were seen voting at some polling stations in Lower Dir (where they were barred in a recent by-election), incidents of barring women were reported from at least one polling station in 17 wards.

A local government election system inspiring public confidence is critical to strengthening democracy in Pakistan. The existing legal and administrative frameworks, as proposed/enacted by the provinces for the conduct of local government elections, are inadequate to meet internationally-accepted and constitutionally endorsed standards of electoral freedom, fairness, neutrality and transparency.

Having observed the above-mentioned irregularities and misconduct, FAFEN proposes a federal framework legislation to define the role of the ECP to conduct consistent, free, fair and transparent local government elections.

PTI DEFENDS ITS POSITION:

In the meanwhile, speaking on violence during Saturday’s LG polls, the PTI chief said the KP government was not responsible as it had fully empowered the ECP to take action against miscreants and troublemakers.

“KP government is being wrongly criticised. I called Pervez Khattak, who said he was helpless as all powers were given to the ECP.”

He said such incidents were inevitable due to the ‘massive’ scale of the election, adding that the ECP should investigate the case to avoid such incidents in the future.

Regarding claims made by opposition parties of rigging in the LG polls, Khan asked the chief election commissioner (CEC) to form tribunals, initiate inquiry and pass verdicts within a month.

“Punish those who are responsible,” he said. “I have also asked Pervez Khattak to order an inquiry into poll rigging that will be conducted by the chief secretary.”