Pakistan Elections 2024

Transparency in Elections

Election Act 2017

Since 2002, Pakistan has held five consecutive general elections at regular intervals but none of the elected prime ministers could complete his term. Out of these five general elections, four were held under civilian dispensation since 2007, when General Musharraf took off his military uniform, although none of those elections was free from allegations of organized electoral manipulations by state institutions. In view of such allegations and in response to civil society demands, the political parties in the Parliament made extensive efforts to reform the electoral process, which culminated in the enactment of the Election Act 2017.

The Election Act 2017 empowered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and strengthened the legal provisions to improve transparency and credibility of the electoral process. In particular, the ECP was required to

• improve electoral rolls,
• ensure timely announcement of results,
• publish polling station wise results on its website soon after the election,
• establish a robust monitoring system and act against anyone found to be engaged in electoral fraud or corrupt practices.
• conduct post-election review of each preceding general election and submit a report to the Parliament and provincial assemblies on it.

Elections 2018: An improved legal framework with weak implementation

However, despite this improved legal framework, the following 2018 general election witnessed extensive allegations of pre-poll rigging and poll day fraud. Several political parties blamed the military establishment and higher courts for rigging the political and electoral process to favour one specific political party. The consequently elected prime minister was dubbed as the ‘selected prime minister’ throughout his tenure and it was frequently alleged that his government could not manage political affairs, including passing of key legislative bills, in the Parliament, without covert military support. This government could not complete its terms, either, due to a successful no confidence motion, which lead to another political crisis as the ousted prime minister and his political party blamed the military establishment and external players for orchestrating the no confidence motion.

From legal solutions to technology based solution

The Government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), from 2018 to 2022, made some efforts to further strengthen the electoral process, although it paid little attention to addressing the consistent complaints of pre-poll rigging or allegations of organized electoral manipulation by the state institutions. Instead, it pushed for certain technical solutions like internet voting to enable participation of overseas voters in the electoral process and use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) to improve efficiency in the vote casting and counting process. However, no political consensus could be forged, as other political parties and many independent experts argued that major challenges to transparent and credible elections could not be addressed through technical solutions like internet voting or EVMs. They urged for political dialogue between political parties and institutions so that the broader ownership and sanctity of basic rules of the game could be established to ensure that political contest is free and fair and independent of any extraneous interventions. However, no serious political dialogue could happen due to a very high level of political polarization and divergent political interests.

Elections 2024: The election of symbols and form 45/47

The recent February 2024 General Elections are also marred by serious allegations of pre-poll rigging, lack of transparency and electoral fraud. Many political workers, including candidates of a major political party (i.e., PTI), faced arrests or detentions prior to the elections. Through a controversial supreme court judgment, the PTI was also deprived of its election symbol for not holding its intra-party election in time.

Moreover, there have been allegations of long and unexplained delays in the announcement of results and changes in results through forgery of Forms 45 and 47, which provide a compilation of results from all polling stations and the final non-official result. Even if the allegations of electoral manipulation are exaggerated, the credibility of the 2024 election has been damaged. However, despite complaints, the new government has been formed, although it remains yet to be seen, if it can provide stability in the face of continuous questions about its legitimacy.

Improvements vs improvement areas in the electoral system

Pakistan’s electoral system is quite comprehensive and provides adequate transparency and protections against electoral fraud, except when state institutions themselves lose neutrality and adopt a partisan approach.

The checks and mechanisms of Electoral Act 2017 that worked as shown in the recent elections are as follows:

• Voters List: The quality of electoral rolls has witnessed marked improvement, as these are now linked with national identity cards (NIC) and don’t generally suffer from duplications.
• Voting Process: On the polling day, each voter is identified through his or her NIC, his or her entry in the electoral roll is confirmed, thumb impression is taken and, to exclude any possibility of double voting, his or her thumb is marked with indelible ink.
• Accountability during polling process: Moreover, the entire process is conducted in the presence of polling agents of each candidate, who verify that the ballot box is empty at the start of polling process, witness the voting and vote counting process, raise objections if they have any doubt, and collect the certified copies of result at the polling station (i.e., Form 45).
• Dispute Resolution: The 2017 Act also provides a mechanism for recounting, publication of polling station wise results on the ECP website and dispute resolution through election tribunals.

Ordinarily, these mechanisms and checks should be more than adequate to ensure transparency and prevent electoral fraud. But all such mechanisms fail, when there is a perception that state institutions are not neutral and have used influence to circumvent the established mechanisms and processes to achieve the desired results. There is a need for all stakeholders to engage in a dialogue to address each other’s legitimate concerns and commit to consolidation of democratic process through, among others, conduct of free, fair and credible elections.