April 25; The Citizens Group on Electoral Process (CGEP), convened by PILDAT, has expressed concern at the delay in appointing a permanent full time Chief Election Commissioner. Instead of initiating the consultative process for appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner before the expiry of the term of the CEC on March 23, 2012, even after the lapse of over a month afterwards, it is not known whether the Prime Minister has formally sent three names to the Parliamentary Committee in consultation of the Leader of the Opposition. Even though an acting Chief Election Commissioner is in office, it is inexplicable as to why both the Government and the Opposition are delaying on developing a consensus on the crucial appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan.

The Group also questioned why there is a delay in the appointment of the new Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan. The outgoing Secretary relinquished his charge on March 28, 2012. In keeping with the independence of the ECP, its rules define that the Secretary must be appointed by the Election Commission. This rule was not followed when the outgoing Secretary was appointed by the Prime Minister in September 2009, instead of by the Commission. The Group demanded that the Election Commission must move swiftly to appoint a suitable Secretary.

Concern was also expressed at the use of State resources for what is clearly de-facto early election campaign by the President and Chief Ministers even before the commencement of the date of the polls. These tendencies violate the norms and rules of free and fair elections. The office of the President, as per article 41 of the Constitution symbolises the unity of the Federation. The incumbent Chief Ministers enjoy the advantages which come with the public office. Neither the President, nor the Governors and Chief Ministers of the Provinces, should use the public exchequers to promote partisan political purposes. The Group also called on the ECP to carefully monitor this early election campaign to ensure that the spirit of the laws and rules for fair elections are not violated.

The Citizens Group expressed its dissatisfaction at the progress on the preparation of error-free computerised Electoral Rolls by the Election Commission. Major errors have been pointed out by the political parties in the rolls, noted the Group with apprehension, and urged the ECP to make public the objections and issues raised by the public and the parties during the display period. In the Group�s own analysis of the display of draft electoral rolls in terms of response from the citizens as well as lack of adequate staffing and responsiveness of the staff at the Display Centres, the exercise has been less than effective.

The Group questioned the effectiveness of the door-to-door verification exercise undertaken by the ECP, at the huge cost to public exchequer, when according to NADRA figures, 91.4 % voters are registered at their permanent address in the rolls. This has resulted in de-facto disenfranchisement of a large number of citizens especially in areas such as Karachi whose present address might have been the preferred address for voting. The Group demanded that the Election Commission must rectify the errors forthwith and initiate criminal proceedings against individuals and elements who have wilfully influenced the process of the preparation of electoral rolls by impersonation and filing for change of address on behalf the voters.

The Group also demanded that the Election Commission must adhere to the deadline of May 27, 2012 for completing the computerised electoral rolls. The Group called upon the Election Commission to engage with the political parties to rectify issues identified by the parties in the Electoral Rolls. The Group also demanded that the final electoral rolls must be placed on the Election Commission�s website.

Discussing the issue of lack of clarity on the future registration of voters, the Citizens Group has suggested that a process should be put in place immediately through which new CNIC holders should automatically be added to the Voters List. The NADRA CNIC form must be modified to note preference of voting address of each citizen at the time of making of the identification card.

The Citizens Group appealed to the citizens to involve themselves in a more effective manner in the preparation of error-free and credible electoral rolls. The Group also urged the Pakistan Television Corporation, Radio Pakistan as well as private media houses to devote time and effort to broadcast public awareness messages on using the right to vote as an important instrument to improve accountability and governance.

Reviewing progress on Election Commission�s 5 year Strategic Plan, the Group pointed out that a strategic goal of the Election Commission should also be to ensure effective coordination with the Provincial Governments to conduct free, fair and credible elections in Pakistan.

The Group discussed the question of discrepancy in the increase in housing blocks across the country. The Group expressed its grave concern on the manner in which the Housing Census has been conducted. The Housing census contains an absolutely inexplicable increase of 67% in the number of census blocks in Sindh, as compared to 10% increase in Balochistan. In the other two provinces the increase is also less than the estimated population since the last 1998 census. The Group called on the Population Census Organisation to rectify the errors. The Group also proposed to NADRA to include block codes and circle codes on CNICs. Since the Population Census will be the basis of new demarcation of constituencies in Pakistan, the Group urged the Federal and Provincial Governments to create necessary conditions to conduct Population Census in an effective and politically non-partisan manner.

The Citizens Group met under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider, former Federal Minister for Interior, former Governor Sindh, Mr. Shahid Hamid, Senior Advocate Supreme Court, former Governor Punjab, former Federal Caretaker Minister, Mr. Fasih Iqbal, Editor-in-Chief Balochistan Times, former Senator, Mr. Javed Jabbar, former Senator and Federal Minister, Mr. Arif Nizami, Editor Pakistan Today, Mr. Tasneem Noorani, former Federal Secretary Interior, Mr. Ghazi Salahuddin, Senior Analyst, Mr. Zubyr Soomro, former Banker, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director PILDAT and Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Joint Director PILDAT.