REPORT PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTE (NDI) IS HYPOTHETICAL AND SPECULATIVE.
Islamabad, the 17th July, 2007.- The Spokesman of the Election Commission of Pakistan stated that observations made by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) are mostly the speculations. Teachers of the state run educational institutions are working voluntarily for this noble cause of encouraging people to visit the display centres throughout the country and to register themselves as eligible voters for the forthcoming general elections. Inspite of the hardships of sizzling hot weather and security situation in some parts of the country the designated staff of Election Commission is performing its duty with great zeal, devotion and sincerity. International and domestic organizations, which Election Commission consider as main stakeholders in promoting democracy and strengthening electoral processes in the country should clarify the ECP related matters prior to bringing those concerns to the public through press and electronic media.
2. The Spokesman further said that most of the observations made by the NDI require amendment in the existing law, that could only be done through the parliament and Election Commission is bound to follow the law of the land. It may also be worth mentioning that the NADRA database also includes the residents of Azad Kashmir, Northern Areas and Overseas Pakistanis attributing to the mismatch between the NADRA’s figure and the number of registered voters as per the draft computerized electoral rolls.
3. In response to the observations of the NDI, the Spokesman clarified that:
i) Observations made by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) are mostly the speculations. Teachers of the state run educational institutions are working voluntarily for this noble cause of encouraging people to visit the display centres throughout the country and to register themselves as eligible voters for the forthcoming general elections. In spite of the hardships of sizzling hot weather and security situation in some parts of the country the designated staff of Election Commission is performing its duty with great zeal, devotion and sincerity. International and domestic organizations, which Election Commission considers as main stakeholders in promoting democracy and strengthening electoral processes in the country should clarify the ECP related matters prior to bringing those concerns to the public through press and electronic media.
ii) Most of the observations made by the NDI require amendment in the existing law, that could only be done through the Parliament and Election Commission is bound to follow the law of the land. It may also be worth mentioning that the NADRA’s database also includes the residents of Azad Kashmir, Northern Areas and Overseas Pakistanis attributing to the mismatch between the NADRA’s figure and the number of registered voters as per the draft computerized electoral rolls.
iii) Voter’s registration is a voluntary act. Under the current regulations an individual must have CNIC or old NIC to get himself registered. The prime reasons for lack of registration by a large segment of eligible voters are due to: a) lack of interest by the public and political parties; and b) NADRA has not been able to issue CNIC to all citizens above 18 years of age, especially the women of the rural areas. The voters’ registration process shall not cease even after the display period, as the registration of voters continues till the election schedule is formerly announced. After publication of Final Electoral Rolls, the eligible voters can get themselves registered under Section 18 of Electoral Rolls Act, 1974, by submitting a simple application to the Registration Officers.
iv) The data entry has been done directly from Voter’s Registration Forms (Form II), which was filled by the head of the household himself/herself, applying Double-blind Method, wherein data entered by one data entry operator is re-entered 100% by another operator and computer software compared two records entered by different operators and at that stage if any mismatch/error was detected that record was marked and was referred to data-entry supervisor who corrected the data as per the original Voter’s Registration Form. The data had been entered “as it is”, submitted by the voters themselves.
v) The address entered in the draft electoral rolls is exactly the same which was filled by the voters themselves. If some voters had submitted incomplete/incorrect address, the same has been entered.
vi) The mentioned figures (13 million are either duplicate or incorrect) are incorrect. This is a false and misleading statement based on speculations.
vii) All display centers are fully functional, however, in certain flood-affected areas; some of the display centers may not be fully functional due to reasons beyond Election Commission’s control (as this was a natural disaster).
viii) More than 45,000 Display Centers have been established in the well known locations such as public schools and prominent buildings. On the average, one Display Center has been established for about 1,600 to 2,000 voters.
ix) Voter’s registration is a voluntary act. However, for the success of voter registration, large publicity campaigns were launched through electronic (PTV, commercial channels and different radio programs) and print media (national, regional and local) to mobilize and motivate the people. Besides, briefings were arranged by the ECP centrally at Islamabad as well as at provincial headquarters
x) The political parties were fully involved in the registration process during the voter registration and draft electoral rolls display period. An official letter to this effect was sent to all political parties having representation at the parliament and a press note to this effect was also issued.
xi) Mobile Teams were sent for door-to-door enumeration during voter registration process and during the display period of Draft Electoral Rolls more than 45,000 Displays Centers were established country-wide, therefore, during display period, there was no need of mobile teams.
xii) The ECP will consider publication of Final Electoral Rolls on the website and the decision will be made on the basis of legal provisions in due course of time. As such, ECP will provide the final voters list to all interested parties/individuals as per the laid down procedure. The political parties and civil society organizations can also obtain the final electoral rolls as per procedure. However, the online registration through Internet is not permissible as per the existing legal framework on the voter registration.
xiii) The date of Display Period has already been extended by 15 days (till 18 July 2007) and this has been given wide publicity both in electronic and print media. As per reports, there has been an increase of more than 17 lac persons in the Computerized Electoral Rolls till 15th July, 2007.
2. The Spokesman observed that the report published by the NDI is hypothetical and speculative. As such, it is based on the sampling survey of few hundred people and calculations were made on the basis of the probability of occurrence and totally negates the feedback received by the Election Commission through the monitoring teams appointed by the Chief Election Commissioner. All the display centres are fully functional and the teachers appointed by the Election Commission are facilitating the people in submitting their claims and objections. He further observed that the report reflects fault – findings rather than fact – findings and the ground realities have been over-looked as well as socio-cultural environment of the country.
3. The Spokesman further clarified that the Computerized Electoral Rolls are being prepared electoral area-wise on the basis of data of eligible voters collected through door-to-door visits by the enumerators after marking the households. It is expected that the number of voters in the Computerized Electoral Rolls will increase to a considerable level on completion of the Display Process in 2nd Phase. Moreover, all such persons who will be issued CNICs after the Display Process can avail of the opportunity of having their names enrolled as voters in the 3rd Phase till announcement of Schedule for the forthcoming General Elections in the Country.