ISLAMABAD: The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), in its observer report on the general election 2024, appreciated the fact that a period of unsettling uncertainty has come to an end with the conduct of elections on February 8.
It noted in its report that the uncertainty was not only exhausting for people but also for the economy, with lingering inflation, unemployment and general disenchantment. The report stressed that now it was the responsibility of political parties to bring to an end their obstinate disengagement for smooth transition of power in order to ensure the much-needed political stability in the country.
The FAFEN report said that many of the concerns raised by political parties and their candidates need to be addressed on legal merit by the ECP as promptly as possible, while residual matters could be addressed by the election tribunals that would be formed and start working in less than two months.
The FAFEN observers findings said that major political parties largely retained or improved their vote banks in February 8 elections, saying that its calculations are based on the results of 235 National Assembly constituencies.
The findings showed that the PMLN and PPP Parliamentarians increased their vote banks, while the PTI-backed independents maintained the party vote bank on February 8. Its report said the PMLN increased its share of votes from 12.9 million in 2018 to 13.3 million in 2024, PPP Parliamentarians’ share increased from 6.9 million in 2018 to 7.6 million in 2024 and PTI-backed candidates secured 16.85 million votes compared to the party’s tally of 16.9 million votes in 2018.
The share of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) went slightly up from 2.1 million in 2018 to 2.6 million in 2024.
The FAFEN report said that the results management system fell short of legal requirements as the slowdown of election results process needed to be probed by the ECP in order to ascertain the reasons and to ensure that such situations could be avoided in future elections.
Despite enhanced use of technology and more sophisticated election management system, the Election Commission did not publish progressive polling station-wise results on its website.
The adherence to the recent amendments to the Elections Act, 2017 particularly focusing on improving efficiency and transparency of the election result management process remained weak, raising questions about integrity of the election outcome.
The recent amendment to the Elections Act, 2017 required the ROs to issue Form-47 (provisional consolidated statement of the result of the count) at 2am the day following the election day, even if it is partially complete, and to complete by 10am the provisional result at any cost.
However, the ROs failed in issuing progressive results despite the ECP’s post mid-night instructions that there might be security issues in some parts of the country for traveling polling staff at night, but almost all ROs faltered on this task, undermining the result management process and fostering rumours.
The FAFEN report stated that despite significant progress in narrowing the gender gap in voter registration, with collaborative efforts from the ECP, National Database and Registration Authority and civil society, the increase in women voters did not fully translate into their turnout.
The targeted initiatives reduced the overall gender gap on the voter rolls between male and female voters from 12.4 million in 2018 to 9.9 million in 2024. However, their turnout remained 43 per cent as compared to 52 per cent male turnout, a similar gap reported in the general election.
FAFEN observers reported that polling officials largely complied with the legally-prescribed processes of identification of incoming voters. The polling officers at 84 per cent of the observed polling stations were found to be calling out the names of voters loudly in the presence of polling agents. At all the observed polling stations, FAFEN observers reported polling officers complying with marking voters’ thumb with indelible ink.
In its report, FAFEN said that the elections followed two tumultuous years of political upheaval, discord and polarisation, which have left behind debris of constitutional confusions, judicial misadventures, communal stress, economic downturn and growing public distrust in public and electoral institutions — issues that must be taken up by the future government as its top priorities.
Despite a spiral of allegations by multiple political parties about not getting a level playing field as well as a spike in militant violence in some parts of the country, none of the political parties backed out of the electoral race.
The FAFEN report stated that all parties continued until the last minute their efforts to muster public support, which augurs well for Pakistan’s struggling democracy. “In addition, the pre-election perception of an unlevel playing field does not seem to have prevented the accusing political parties from gaining electoral ground,” it added.
The FAFEN report stated that the media contributed ‘tremendously’ during polls. Notwithstanding the general perception that pre-election media freedoms were constricted and sporadic incidents of restrictions on expression and speech, in fact, Pakistani print, electronic and digital media continued to contribute tremendously to strengthening the political and electoral process. The media kept voters informed through their undiluted reporting, which helped voters make informed choices. Independent civil society groups deserve praise in particular for focusing attention on rights and liberties during the election process, including infringements of the rights of citizens and political parties.
FAFEN had deployed 5,664 observers – 3,913 men, 1,740 women and 11 transgender persons – to observe 22,656 polling stations, around 25 per cent of a total of 90,675 polling stations set up in 265 constituencies.
FAFEN observers had undergone a day-long training on provisions relevant to voting and counting processes at the polling stations as provided by the Elections Act, 2017, Election Rules, 2017 and ECP handbooks for election officials.
FAFEN acknowledges the ECP for setting in place a hassle-free process of accreditation for these observers, which is indicative of the commission’s greater focus on increasing the transparency of the electoral processes.
FAFEN observers typically observed four polling stations through the election day, starting from the observation of proceedings before the opening of a polling station and ending with the counting of votes. Most observers, however, could not transmit their observation reports using FAFEN’s dedicated mobile app due to the caretaker government’s suspension of cellular data services, preventing FAFEN from publishing its progressive voter turnout reports as planned for election day.
The preliminary report was based on the observation reports received from 3,534 observers from 12,177 polling stations in 262 NA constituencies. These include 5,083 male polling stations, 1,730 female stations and 5,364 combined stations. In addition, the preliminary findings include constituency-level observation reports from 231 long-term observers – 195 men and 36 women – as well as observation of the process of preparation of preliminary results at the offices of Returning Officers (ROs) in 265 NA constituencies.
