Management of electoral process

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) declared the May 11 elections the “costliest” and “most poorly managed affair” in Pakistan’s history. The HRCP is not wrong but we must give credit where credit is due. For the first time in Pakistan’s history, we will witness a smooth transition to democracy. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the caretaker set-up did their best to serve this country. Granted that things could have been better but past experiences with handpicked interim governments instead of a neutral set-up were a lot worse.

The ECP not only got rid of fake voters’ lists but it also facilitated voters through text messages in order to ensure that the voters had ample knowledge of where to go and cast their votes. While a better managed election would certainly have been preferred with there being room for improvement and lessons to be learnt for the next elections, the rigging allegations that are coming in can only be proven if the sealed bags containing ballot papers were seen to be tampered with. In most cases, violations of a different nature are being reported — some voters being turned away, contestants found in polling booths, harassment of rival party’s voters, etc. Such cases are not unheard of in elections in other parts of the world. In fact, the level of mismanagement this time around is not high enough to question the overall results.

The fact is that most observers, both foreign and local, have termed the 2013 elections to be largely non-violent and fair. Specifically,it should be noted that what happened in Karachi was not mismanagement but a successful attempt by criminal elements in political parties to disrupt polling where they had a chance of losing. The ECP is looking at what happened in Karachi and hopefully will act accordingly. It would be better if it is allowed to do its job instead of being discredited for the entire electoral process.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2013.