Pakistan’s democracy ranking drops in 2024 amid poll violence, political chaos

ISLAMABAD: The new Democracy Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has claimed that Pakistan’s democracy ranking dropped from 3.25 in 2023 to 2.84 in 2024 amid political chaos marked by election upheavals.

According to the report on global democracy rankings, Pakistan witnessed violence ahead of and on polling day, 8 February 2024. “The most popular politician, Imran Khan, whose own democratic credentials are questionable, was jailed shortly before the election took place,” the EIU stated.

It is worth noting that the 2024 general election had the highest voter turnout in Pakistan’s history, according to the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen). However, the events before and after the polling day raised questions over democratic rights and freedom in the country.

Concerns were also raised regarding the reliability and trustworthiness of the general election by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

HRCP’s election monitors observed prominent issues as they conducted on-site inspections in 51 constituencies. The polling day saw a nationwide internet shutdown and suspension of mobile services along with unplanned alterations in polling information, jeopardising voters’ ability to locate polling stations.

Additionally, the protracted delay in the announcement of election results by the returning officers also emerged as a problem.

Furthermore, the post-polling process was labelled unsatisfactory. In a fifth of all polling stations observed by the HRCP, the presiding officer did not affix the statement of the count in a conspicuous place for public display or was not seen transmitting a photograph of the result to the returning officer and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). It was alleged in many instances that the returning officer’s announcement did not tally with the presiding officer’s count

Worryingly, reports of candidates, polling agents and observers being denied permission to witness the provisional consolidation of results also surfaced. Moreover, some polling stations also showed clear signs of vote manipulation, where votes were swapped.

The EIU democracy index report has also disclosed that global democracy is in worse shape than at any point in the nearly two-decade history of the index. According to the report, for the 16th consecutive year, Norway was named the most democratic country in the world, with a score of 9.81. New Zealand and Sweden followed. Parallel to this, Afghanistan has been the lowest-ranked country since 2021, scoring just 0.25 points. The biggest change came from Bangladesh, which dropped 25 places.