Controversies in Sindh LG polls don’t ‘augur well’ for general elections: report

ISLAMABAD: The Free and Fair Election Network has observed that results management issues in the second phase of local government elections in Sindh overshadowed a peaceful and well-managed polling day, and there was a significant difference in the voting rate in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions.

While the election process was peaceful and relatively orderly, the allegations of rigging due to delayed results have affected the transparency of the elections.

A FAFEN report observed that controversies over the quality of electoral processes do not augur well, particularly when the political parties are preparing for general elections that are constitutionally due by October 11, 2023. In its report on the second phase of local government elections in Sindh, the FAFEN found that voters in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions turned out in varied numbers to elect more than 3,508 councillors in long-delayed local government elections on January 15, 2023, which remained peaceful and relatively orderly but were tainted by allegations of rigging by major political parties over the delay in the announcement of results by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The FAFEN report stated that the voter turnout remained relatively lower in Karachi Central, Karachi East, Karachi West, Karachi South, Korangi, Hyderabad, and Keamari Districts.

According to the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), the turnout in the Hyderabad Division remained above 40 percent, while in Karachi it was less than 20 percent except in Malir.

The report said many of these controversies stem from weaknesses in the legislative framework that governs elections, which need to be rectified through wide-ranging negotiations among all political actors coming together for electoral reforms irrespective of their political differences.

According to the FAFEN report, unless elections lead to political stability, the process of democratisation will continue to weaken, as will the public’s trust in democracy and its ability to improve the social and economic well-being of the people.

The election commission, at the same time, needs to open up to political actors and address their legitimate concerns through the regulatory space available to it under the Elections Act, 2017 to ensure truly “inclusive” elections, minimising the eventualities of poll boycotts by major political parties in the future.

Despite controversies and uncertainty over the conduct of elections, an impressive number of people turned out to vote in local government elections in Badin, Jamshoro, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar, Thatta and Malir districts.

However, the voter turnout remained relatively lower in Karachi Central, Karachi East, Karachi West, Karachi South, Korangi, Hyderabad and Keamari.

The turnout in the Hyderabad Division remained above 40 percent, while in Karachi it was less than 20 percent except in Malir.

The turnout in Karachi and Hyderabad Divisions remained at 36 and 58 percent, respectively, in the last local government elections held in 2015.

The voting process remained orderly, unlike the previous phase when instances of overcrowding at polling stations led to untoward situations.

The legal and procedural irregularities and inadequacies concerning campaigning and canvassing inside and around the polling stations and the ballot issuance process observed during the first phase persisted during the second phase as well.

The election day environment was largely peaceful, as the FAFEN received only 14 reports of verbal altercations on January 15, 2023, as compared to 55 incidents of violence, including some physical and armed clashes, during the first phase.

Although, the provisional results of the Karachi Division were publicly available within two days amid allegations of manipulation and rigging, the consolidated results of the districts in the Hyderabad Division are still awaited. The ECP had reserved four days from the polling day for consolidation of the election results in its original notification for the second phase dated June 10, 2022.

The FAFEN observers noted omissions and inadequacies in the polling station result forms [Form XI (Statement of the Count)] that recurred during the second phase.

They reported cases where presiding officers did not properly fill out the result forms, leaving empty sections for recording polling stations’ names, registered voters, the gender-disaggregated number of votes polled and signatures of polling officials.

To improve polling day management, it recommends ensuring stricter enforcement of the code of conduct regarding campaigning and canvassing on election day, setting up adequately spaced polling booths, compliance with the voter identification and ballot issuance processes, availability of female staff at female polling booths, and provision of basic facilities at the polling stations before the general elections.

The polling process during the second phase was peaceful and organised, with adequate security arrangements barring scattered instances of verbal altercations at a few polling stations.

Security personnel were present at 92 percent of the observed polling stations before the start of the polling process.

During the day, the officials were observed to have been present outside 89 percent of the observed polling stations and inside 73 percent of the observed polling booths.

In addition, the observers witnessed CCTV cameras installed at 24 percent of the observed polling booths. Besides the deployment of security personnel, the Elections Act, 2017, empowers the election commission to install itself or direct the government concerned to install surveillance cameras in each booth of a polling station that has been declared highly sensitive.

They reported 14 incidents of verbal clashes from five districts, including Jamshoro (five), Karachi Central and Keamari (three each), Karachi South (two) and Hyderabad (one).

As many as eight of these incidents took place inside the polling stations and three outside. These altercations led to temporary disruptions in the polling process for 10 to 20 minutes at five polling stations.

The election commission had ensured the availability of ramps at 26 percent of the observed polling stations to facilitate wheelchair-bound voters, whereas access to 46 percent of polling stations was wheelchair-worthy.

The observers reported that presiding officers at 22 percent of the observed polling stations maintained a list of the persons who assisted the voters with disabilities in casting their ballots, as required under Rule 74(3) of the Election Rules, 2017. The arrangements for ensuring voters’ accessibility may be further improved by adding disability information to the electoral rolls.

The election staff was observed to be generally complying with the ballot counting requirements. At 89 percent of the observed polling stations, the presiding officers placed the ballot boxes in a central location before opening them and starting the counting.

The doors at 64 percent of the polling stations were closed before the start of counting, so that no one could leave or enter the room during the process. At 4 percent of the polling stations observed, unauthorised persons were present during the counting process.

They received Form XI from 71 of the observed polling stations. An assessment of these forms revealed that around 15 percent of them were not duly filled out by the presiding officers and lacked one or more critical pieces of information such as the name and number of the polling station, the number of voters assigned to the polling station, gender-disaggregated statistics of polled votes, and the signature of the presiding officer.

Such omissions have been noted in the first phase as well, highlighting the need for greater investments in the polling officials’ training.