Strengthening democracy

4.5 million citizens have used SMS service to verify voter registration details, with the number due to increase.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) claims that it will be receiving an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for the recently-launched voter verification service that allows citizens to check their voter registration via SMS. True, Pakistan is one of the only countries to have such a system in place. In a few short months, after the Supreme Court gave the ECP — in conjunction with NADRA — the order to prepare full voter lists, the government agencies went into overdrive to meet the deadline. Early reports suggest that the efforts have been remarkably successful — a rare case of government bureaucracy producing positive results.

After the 2008 general elections, it was revealed that nearly 38 million of the votes cast — or over 30 per cent of the total votes — could not be verified. This does not mean that all 38 million votes were bogus, as is being claimed by opposition parties; it simply means that there was no way of verifying the validity of the votes. A system where citizens can verify their voting details themselves should help eliminate most of the problems that were encountered during previous elections. So far, according to NADRA, 4.5 million citizens have used the SMS service to verify their voter registration details and with elections not expected for another year, that number should increase in the months ahead.

In addition, the ECP has also set up more than 55,000 display centres around the country where voters can check their registration and file any complaints. The response to this initiative, according to the non-profit Free and Fair Election Network, has been far from encouraging. Part of the blame should go to the ECP for not advertising the service enough but some blame also has to be shouldered by the political parties, who are the only organisations in the country with the capability of getting massive numbers of people to these display centres. The 2008 elections were considered among the freest in the country’s history; if all stakeholders play their part the next ones have a chance of being even freer.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2012.