FAFEN report: The missing half at polling stations

ECP fails to set up female polling booths at approximately 75% of the polling stations monitored.

ISLAMABAD:

In a worrying sign for women’s voter turnout in Balochistan, a recently-held by-election in the province witnessed dismal women participation and lacked key facilities which could encourage women to vote.

A preliminary report by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) said by-polls held in the PB-18 (Sherani-cum-Zhob) constituency saw a low turnout in women voters, a lack of female polling stations and the presence of security personnel and unauthorised people inside polling stations

According to Fafen, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) failed to set up female polling booths at approximately 75% of the polling stations monitored by Fafen observers – a violation of its own polling scheme.  The preliminary report is based on the observation of 33 polling stations and reports sent by Fafen staff before the election.

The election body’s reluctance to establish female polling booths at a majority of observed polling stations reflected the administration’s waning commitment to resist trends in the region, the report added.

ECP set up 67 polling stations – all mixed gender. The polling stations were supposed to include 151 polling booths – 82 male and 69 female. However, female booths had not been set up at 25 of the 33 polling stations on polling day.



Twelve trained and accredited Fafen observers monitored the voting and counting processes inside polling stations. The observers spent between 45 and 60 minutes in each polling station to document their observations and findings on a standardised checklist.

Key findings

No female election officials were seen at polling stations.

At PS-20, the presiding officer prohibited at least five women from voting after verifying identification. The officer’s motivation to do so could not be established. Nevertheless, the incident led to a two-hour break in polling and the women left the polling station without voting.

In PS-30, the presiding officer refused to allow a polling agent to vote on behalf of absent women voters. The agent had come with identity cards belonging to women for proxy voting.

The report said ECP should have established women-only polling stations in the constituency to create a favourable environment for women voters. Additional Secretary of the ECP Mohammad Afzal Khan refused to comment on the issue when contacted, saying he did not have any knowledge about polling issues at this time.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2012.