By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A prominent Pakistani election monitoring network said Monday that its observers were not allowed to witness the vote tabulation process in more than half of the National Assembly constituencies, calling for an investigation into this violation of the election law.
The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), which has been monitoring electoral contests in the country since 2006, said in a statement that the returning officers in 135 of the 260 constituencies did not adhere to the provisions of the Election Act, 2017, that require them to conduct the consolidation of the results in the presence of the contesting candidates, their agents, and authorized observers.
“The Returning Officers did not allow FAFEN observers in 135 constituencies to observe the tabulation process –– 80 in Punjab, 23 in Sindh, 18 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 in Balochistan, and all three in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT),” FAFEN said in a statement.
The network said that this undermined the efforts of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to maximize electoral transparency, which was generally maintained during the voting and counting processes at the polling stations.
The network also noted that out of the 135 constituencies where its observers were denied access, independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of former cricket star Imran Khan won 46 seats, followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif with 43 seats, and the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) of former president Asif Ali Zardari with 28 seats.
The network also informed that the returning officers in 65 constituencies prohibited one or more candidates and their agents from participating in the tabulation proceedings.
“The ECP must probe the non-compliance of returning officers of its instructions to ensure electoral transparency and to determine responsibility as per Section 55 of the Elections Act, 2017, which empower the Election Commission to take action against erring election officials, public servants and persons in the service of Pakistan,” the network said.
The election on Feb. 8 was marred by accusations of vote-rigging, a nationwide shutdown of mobile phone networks, and over 50 incidents of violence resulting in the deaths of at least 16 people across the South Asian nation.
The election regulator, however, rejected allegations of rigging raised by various political parties and local and international observers amid voting result delays that raised suspicion of election manipulation.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said in a statement that the Election Management System (EMS) installed in the offices of the returning officers, who are responsible for consolidating the results from the polling stations, worked satisfactorily after the polling ended on Thursday.
However, the EMS mobile app installed on the phones of the presiding officers, who are in charge of the polling stations, required cellular connectivity to send Form 45, which contains the number of votes obtained by each candidate, electronically.
The government shut down mobile phone services and temporarily closed the country’s borders with Iran and Afghanistan minutes before the polls opened on Feb. 8, citing security reasons.
The government said the measures were taken as the run-up to the elections was marred by attacks on rallies, election offices, and candidates, and 28 people were killed in a number of attacks in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces just a day before the election.
“Upon the security agencies’ recommendation, the federal government blocked mobile phone services to maintain peace and security at polling stations,” the ECP said.
The election regulator said that the mobile signal outage, along with other logistical challenges, such as remote polling station locations, nighttime travel, extreme weather conditions, and road blockages due to protests by losing candidates’ supporters, affected the overall process of routine coordination and administrative transport, leading to further delays in the results.
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