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Reforming Pakistan's Electoral System

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Reforming Pakistan's Electoral System REFORMING PAKISTAN’S ELECTORAL SYSTEM Asia Report N°203 – 30 March 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. A TURBULENT ELECTORAL HISTORY ................................................................... 2 A. DEMOCRACY DELAYED ............................................................................................................... 2 B. RIGGED ELECTIONS AND MILITARY RULE ................................................................................... 4 C. FLAWED DEMOCRACY AND MANIPULATED ELECTIONS ............................................................... 4 III. ELECTIONS UNDER THE MUSHARRAF REGIME ................................................ 6 A. CONSOLIDATING MILITARY RULE ................................................................................................ 6 B. 2008 ELECTIONS .......................................................................................................................... 7 IV. ELECTORAL INSTITUTIONS, LAWS AND PROCESSES .................................... 10 A. ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................. 10 B. LEGAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................................................. 11 C. ELECTORAL FRAMEWORK .......................................................................................................... 12 V. REFORMING THE ECP ............................................................................................... 13 A. IMPLEMENTING THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH AMENDMENTS .......................................... 13 B. RESOURCE CRUNCH ................................................................................................................... 13 1. Infrastructure .............................................................................................................................. 14 2. Human resources ........................................................................................................................ 14 VI. ADMINISTERING ELECTIONS ................................................................................. 15 A. PERSONNEL ................................................................................................................................ 15 B. DELIMITING ELECTORAL CONSTITUENCIES ................................................................................ 17 C. ADMINISTERING ELECTIONS ...................................................................................................... 18 1. Voter registration ....................................................................................................................... 19 2. Registration of candidates .......................................................................................................... 20 3. Accountability of candidates and political parties ..................................................................... 20 D. RESOLVING ELECTORAL PETITIONS AND COMPLAINTS .............................................................. 21 E. INTERNAL REFORM .................................................................................................................... 23 VII.THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ....................................... 24 A. AVOIDING A PURELY TECHNICAL APPROACH ............................................................................ 24 B. BROADENING ENGAGEMENT ...................................................................................................... 25 VIII.CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 27 APPENDICES A. MAP OF PAKISTAN ........................................................................................................................... 28 B. ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP .................................................................................... 29 C. CRISIS GROUP REPORTS AND BRIEFINGS ON ASIA SINCE 2008 ........................................................ 30 D. CRISIS GROUP BOARD OF TRUSTEES ................................................................................................ 32 Asia Report N°203 30 March 2011 REFORMING PAKISTAN’S ELECTORAL SYSTEM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Electoral rigging has hampered Pakistan’s democratic mentary committee comprising, equally, government and development, eroded political stability and contributed to opposition members. While encouraging, this is only the the breakdown of the rule of law. Facing domestic pres- first step in a longer process of electoral reform. sure for democracy, successive military governments rigged national, provincial and local polls to ensure regime sur- To curtail opportunities for the military to manipulate the vival. These elections yielded unrepresentative parliaments political process, the ECP must be made independent, that have rubber-stamped extensive constitutional and impartial and effective. The commission remains poorly political reforms to centralise power with the military and managed, inadequately resourced, under-staffed and under- to empower its civilian allies. Undemocratic rule has also trained. Promotion prospects for ECP personnel are lim- suppressed other civilian institutions, including the Elec- ited, and recruitment policies fail to attract strong candi- tion Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which is responsible dates; top positions tend to be filled by civil servants from for holding elections to the national and four provincial the regular federal bureaucracy, primarily because ECP assemblies, and local governments. With the next general officials lack the necessary skills. There are no systematic election in 2013 – if the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led training programs for ECP staff, and the organisation de- government completes its full five-year term – the ruling votes few if any resources to researching and analysing party and its parliamentary opposition, as well as the inter- past elections and raising important electoral issues. national community, should focus on ensuring a transparent, orderly political transition through free, fair and transpar- Electoral reform on all fronts is urgently needed. Highly ent elections. inaccurate voters lists are responsible for disenfranchising millions. Polling procedures are often manipulated; ac- General Pervez Musharraf’s eight-year rule gravely eroded countability mechanisms for candidates and political par- the ECP’s already limited independence, impartiality and ties seldom employed; and the electoral code of conduct competence, reducing the institution to providing a façade routinely flouted. Dysfunctional election tribunals, char- of legitimacy to military rule. Handpicked chief election acterised by corruption and prolonged delays, prove inca- commissioners (CECs) oversaw widespread rigging of pable of resolving post-election disputes. Such internal two local government elections, a presidential referendum, weaknesses constrain the ECP from overseeing credible and a general election. Musharraf’s Legal Framework Or- elections and an orderly political transition. der, enshrined in the constitution though the seventeenth amendment, massively distorted the political system, tilt- The ECP has taken some steps to address these problems. ing the electoral playing field towards the military’s civilian In May 2010, it produced a strategic five-year plan, with allies, including the Islamist parties. significant international assistance, listing fifteen broad electoral reform goals, divided into 129 detailed objectives These constitutional distortions were repealed in April with specific timeframes, which range from improvements 2010, when parliament unanimously passed the eighteenth in voter registration and election dispute management pro- amendment to the constitution, undoing Musharraf’s politi- cedures, to the creation of a comprehensive human resource cal legacy and introducing new provisions to strengthen policy. Although there were some, albeit limited, steps parliamentary democracy. The amendment package en- towards meeting targets for 2010, more substantive pro- hanced the ECP’s independence by making the appoint- gress is unlikely unless parliament assumes political own- ment of its key officials more transparent and subject to ership over the plan, oversees its implementation, and holds parliamentary oversight. The CEC and other ECP mem- the ECP accountable for unsatisfactory progress. bers, previously appointed by the president, will now be selected through consultations between the prime minister Credible elections, however, require far more than just and the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, structural reforms. Many discriminatory laws remain in and subsequently vetted and approved by a joint parlia- place, including easily manipulated qualification criteria Reforming Pakistan’s Electoral System Crisis Group Asia Report N°203, 30 March 2011 Page ii requiring electoral candidates to be of good Islamic char- cluding provisions relating to the use of govern- acter. Moreover, an interventionist military high command ment resources for electoral purposes; appears bent on shaping the political order to its liking. f) ensuring that all executive officers
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