Despite the refusal of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue accreditation cards to observers, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) plans to mobilise its observers to monitor the by-election in NA-151 Multan-IV scheduled to be held on July 19, 2012, says an FAFEN statement. According to the statement released on Wednesday, trained FAFEN observers will monitor electoral processes outside the polling stations. Additionally, the observers will monitor voting and counting processes if allowed by the Presiding Officers.
Citizens have the right to monitor the performance of institutions that are being run and maintained with public exchequer. FAFEN decided to continue with its observation plan after the refusal of ECP to grant its observers accreditation to observe the elections. This is the first time since FAFEN’s inception six years ago that the ECP has refused the network from election observation. The ECP issued accreditation cards to approximately 20,000 FAFEN observers for monitoring voting and counting processes in the 2008 General Elections and subsequent by-elections. The ECP decision has come after FAFEN raised serious issues with the electoral rolls being finalised for use in the coming general elections. FAFEN urged the ECP to follow the Supreme Court directions that voter lists should be finalised after door-to-door verification. According to FAFEN, the Preliminary Electoral Rolls 2012 had more than 11 percent voters who were not verified on addresses listed on these rolls. Alarmingly, there are around 20 million people who are 18 years of age and above and not registered as voters. FAFEN says that the refusal of the ECP to allow observation of voting and counting processes in the by-election is a serious blow to electoral transparency, something that the ECP, media and civil society organisations have all struggled for. The decision also appears to be an effort contrary to the desire of the incoming Chief Election Commissioner, who has sought support of civil society and media for the conduct of free and fair elections in the country.
