Democracy in distress: EU think tank sees no recourse to poll discord

Says election body must be ruled by an administrative framework.

ISLAMABAD:

A European Union-based think tank, working to study and promote democracy, has expressed concern over the absence of an effective mechanism in the Election Commission of Pakistan for quelling “election-related discord”.

The Democracy Reporting International (DRI) is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the European Union, and “promotes political participation of citizens, accountability of state bodies and the development of democratic institutions worldwide”, while studying election-related issues across the globe.

Vladimir Pran, country director of DRI, put down the absence of an effective mechanism to the fact that Pakistani citizens did not know where to lodge complaints – such as those regarding the conduct of party candidates.



“Election dispute settlement mechanisms are highly informal, often providing no remedy at all,” said the DRI official. “There is no procedure for the application of receipts, processing, handling, disposition and appeal of complaints at various phases of the election”.

According to Pran, there is a need to create an election adjudicatory body with broad jurisdiction, which should help decide electoral disputes in the first instance with the option of judicial appeal. He said that the body must be ruled by an administrative framework that regulates how it will receive, hear, investigate and resolve complaints.



The adjudicatory forum must be empowered to hear direct first instance complaints against the ECP, government decisions, and electoral activities. He said that courts should be the last resort to settle any election-related dispute and all such rows must be settled by the election commission within a defined time period.

Replying to a question, Pran said that the election commission has not taken any steps to ensure increased participation of women in the upcoming elections -- which takes a toll on its effectiveness as the guardian of electoral proceedings.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2013.