Address by Mr. Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad, Secretary ECP,IFES Monitoring Review Conference, Training of Election Officials for 2008 Elections
Address by Mr. Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad, Secretary ECP,
IFES Monitoring Review Conference,
Training of Election Officials for 2008 Elections
January 14, 2008,
Best Western Hotel, Islamabad
Dr. Staffan Darnolf
Mr. David Avery
Mr. Steven Grey
Mr. Azhar Saeed Malik
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Ø Thank you very much for inviting me here for giving concluding remarks in the Monitoring Review Conference. The Election Commission of Pakistan is committed to hold General Elections in a free, fair and transparent manner.
Ø On February 18, 2008, the Pakistani nation will go to the polls to elect a new National Assembly and members to the Provincial Assemblies. The Election Commission of Pakistan will open almost 65,000 polling stations containing more than 170,000 polling booths to serve the 81-million strong electorate.
Ø To staff these polling stations and assist the ECP in aggregating the election results, the Election Commission is relying on the dedication of Pakistani civil servants from various ministries, such as the Ministry of Education and the Judiciary. These Departments have always risen to the occasion and served the nation well. For the upcoming elections, the ECP will employ more than 5 lakh 70 thousand individuals to assist the voters in the polling stations.
Ø Equally important to the significant logistical challenge of identifying and deploying more than half a million individuals to 65,000 locations on time for the upcoming elections, is the proper training of election officials. Properly trained election officials discharging their duties in a professional and impartial manner is a prerequisite for democratic elections.
Ø The ECP has always taken its training responsibility very seriously. A good indicator of its commitment was the establishment of a Federal Election Academy some years ago. For the upcoming elections, the ECP had the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme and its implementing partner, Family Planning Association of Pakistan, in helping train key election officials for their important duties. This collaborative effort resulted in the timely training of District Returning Officers, Returning Officers, Assistant Returning Officers, Presiding Officers and Assistant Presiding Officers. The final training sessions for these officials as well as the training of Polling Officers is scheduled for the coming weeks preceding elections. It is a healthy sign that training of international standard has been imparted to all Polling Personnel, who will perform their functions in accordance with the law, rules and procedure and they will be in a better position to answer the queries the national/international observers make.
Ø The trainings have proven well organized and extremely beneficial to the participants. Given the scope and importance of this training task, IFES was charged with monitoring the training to take stock of the quality of the trainings conducted. IFES’ timely and professional reports to the individuals responsible for the training made it possible for them to collaborate the training program and thereby ensure a high-quality training of election officials across the country. For this, the ECP is most grateful.
Ø A training program of this magnitude is not a matter of a few weeks’ worth of work. In order to obtain the level of success we have seen in this program, one cannot ignore the smallest of details. This training program started its meticulous work almost a year ago when the ECP and the UNDP began outlining the structure, content and timelines.
Ø The plans included developing and printing user-friendly manuals for the different polling officials. In fact, the UNDP printed more than 600 thousand copies of these manuals, thereby ensuring that every official now holds a manual outlining their roles and responsibilities leading up to the Election Day, during Election Day, as well as the counting of ballots and the aggregation of the election results in each of the constituencies.
Ø Responsible and professional organizations realize that there is always room for improvements. I am therefore happy to see that key representatives involved in this large-scale polling official training program from IFES, the UNDP and FPAP have jointly discussed and shared their respective experiences from this critical component of the electoral process. I am confident that the ECP will take your observations and recommendations to heart as we start planning for the electoral events.
Ø It is worth mentioning that the set-back in the smooth functioning of pre-poll arrangements caused due to the assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has also been recouped and all arrangements required for the peaceful conduct of Poll on the 18th February, 2008 have been finalized.
Ø In the end I am thankful to all including Dr. Staffan Darnolf, Mr. David Avery and Mr. Azhar Saeed Malik -------- for their dedication and cooperation towards the achievement of all election related targets for the conduct of free, fair, transparent and impartial elections in Pakistan.