CGEP NEWS AND EVENTS

Oct 30, 2007

CGEP Terms Pre-Election Atmosphere Unfavourable to the Prospects of Free and Fair General Election; Criticises Role of the Government, the ECP

In its 12th meeting held at Quetta on October 25, 2007, the Citizens Group on Electoral Process – CGEP, facilitated by PILDAT, reviewed the overall political conditions in the country and noted with concern that prospects for the holding of free and fair elections in the country had been adversely affected by a number of unfortunate developments. These included: 

a.   Federal and Provincial governments aligned with the ruling PML were using public money to launch extensive media campaigns.  This was a misuse of state resources and a naked attempt to queer the pitch in favour of the ruling party before the elections.

b.   The Prime Minister and Chief Ministers were holding public meetings and announcing massive development projects and in return asking the people to vote for the ruling party.

c.   Jobs were being allocated to ruling party legislators and recruitment being done on their recommendation. Besides the setting aside of merit, which should be the only criterion for recruitment, a huge burden was being put on the exchequer to further political aims. 

An important ingredient of fair and free election is the putting in place of neutral and independent caretakers. Caretaker governments, both at the centre and the provinces, need to be put in place through political consensus of parties represented in the assemblies. The first caretaker government put in place in the Frontier province, goes against the principle of political consultation and consensus. The ministers chosen, represent the ruling coalition and if this is an indication of how the government plans to install the remaining caretaker governments, it is obvious that they would neither be neutral nor independent. According to media reports, some political parties are putting forward the names of their senior members for important positions in the caretaker set up. Names of some people considered close to the President are also being floated. If the interests of just a few parties are pandered to, it would be a total negation of the entire concept of neutral caretaker governments envisaged in the constitution. If the government wants any credibility for the forthcoming elections, it should desist from selective appointments in the caretaker set up and put in place genuinely independent governments to conduct the elections.

Focussing on the draft Code of Conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and comparing it with the CGEP’s own proposed Code of Conduct issued in July 2007 and shared with political parties, government and the ECP, the CGEP regretted that the ECP chose not to include key clauses of the CGEP-proposed Code of Conduct. In particular, issues relating to the conduct of the President, suspension of local governments during election, installing of consensus neutral caretaker governments and bar on individual candidates to run campaigns on electronic media, were not included in the ECP draft Code of Conduct. However, the draft ECP Code of Conduct has adopted one important clause from the CGEP-proposed Code of Conduct which prohibits the government such that “No advertisements, notice or announcement paid for from public funds shall carry the explicit or implicit reference, name, designation or photo of any public functionary or holder of a state or public office to project him/her as the originator, sponsor, promoter or organizer of any scheme, project, progress, ideology or vision.”

The CGEP-proposed Code of Conduct had proposed placing a bar on the President from supporting any political party or group, implicitly or explicitly; and that the President should neither attend any public meeting, rally or announce any special or preferential package or programme from public funds for any constituency or area. The CGEP-proposed code had also recommended that the local government Nazims and Naib Nazims should be made non-functional with effect from the date of announcing of election schedule till the finalisation of election results.

The CGEP members highlighted that it is not the issuance of Code of Conduct by the ECP alone which would guarantee all stakeholders to adhere to rules of the game but the implementation period and the implementation capacity of the ECP. Unlike the ECP Code of Conduct, which is deemed legally to only come into force after the notification of elections, the CGEP had proposed that the Election Code of Conduct should come into force six (6) months prior to the scheduled expiry of the term of the National Assembly or on the date of the announcement of election whichever of the two is earlier.

The meeting of the Citizens Group on Electoral Process was chaired by Justice (Retd.) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, Former Chief Justice of Pakistan while the other participating members included Mr. Arif Nizami, Editor The Nation; Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Asad Durrani, Former Director General, ISI / MI; Mr. Ghazi Salahuddin, Political Analyst; Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani, Chairman, Gallup Pakistan; Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider, Former Governor Sindh and Former Interior Minister; Mr. Mujib-ur-Rehman Shami, Editor-in-Chief, Daily Pakistan; Justice (Retd.) Nasira Iqbal, Former Judge, Lahore High Court; Mr. Omar Khan Afridi, Former Chief Secretary NWFP; Mr. Rahim Ullah Yousafzai, Political Analyst; Mr. Shafqat Mahmood, Former Senator and Minister; Mr. Shahid Hamid, Former Governor Punjab; Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob and Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Executive Director and Joint Director of PILDAT respectively.

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