FAFEN lauds registered voters to cast vote with better turnout

ISLAMABAD, Jul 27 (APP):Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Friday commended the voters for ensuring the second consecutive democratic transition of power with a better turnout on the general election day.
In its preliminary Election Observation Findings Report- 2018, issued here it also lauded the role of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and all the individuals involved in administering, monitoring and maintaining security during the elections.
According to the FAFEN assessment of Provisional Results of the Count (Forms 47) of 241 National Assembly constituencies as announced by the Election Commission, the voter turnout remained 53.3 percent.
The highest turnout of voters was in Punjab, where 59 percent of registered voters went to the polls in 127 National Assembly constituencies, for which provisional results were available.
In all the three National Assembly constituencies in Islamabad the turnout was 58.2 percent, followed by 47.7 percent in 52 National Assembly constituencies in Sindh, 43.6 percent in 50 National Assembly constituencies in KP including Federally Administered Tribal Areas – FATA and 39.6 percent in nine National Assembly constituencies in Balochistan.
The male turnout at these 241 constituencies was 58.3 percent, more than 10 percent higher than the female turnout that remained 47 percent. In absolute number, 49.48 million voters in these 241 constituencies exercised their right to vote as against 46.9 million who voted in 2013.
It added the Election Day was better managed, relatively peaceful and free of any major controversy until slow process of announcement of provisional results by the ECP.
The report said that despite issues with the Result Transmission System (RTS) set in place by the ECP to meet the requirements of the new election law that was enacted in October 2017. FAFEN also acknowledges significant
improvements in the quality of critical electoral processes in the election cycle that inspired greater public confidence.
With regard to voter registration, with a particular focus on increasing women enrollment on electoral rolls, and greater diligence in following legally defined principles in delimitation and effective enforcement of campaign rules, the Election Commission appeared to be more assertive in its attempt to deliver an improved quality of election, it added.
It said that for the first time, the Commission deployed 849 independent Returning Officers for all National and Provincial Assembly constituencies, which initially caused some procedural issues, such as in the finalization of polling schemes, but were timely addressed by the ECP.
As many as 811,491 personnel to be deputed for Election Day duties were trained to perform functions as Presiding Officers, Assistant Presiding Officers and Polling Officers at 85,317 polling stations with 242,088 polling booths that were setup in 272 National and 577 Provincial Assembly constituencies.
The deployment of as many as 371,000 armed forces personnel on election duties, despite questions from some political parties, ensured the peaceful conduct of Election Day. With massive deployment of armed forces alongside police and other law enforcement agencies, people felt reassured and came out to vote in large numbers.
According to the preliminary findings by FAFEN observers, the Election Day was better managed and the scale of procedural irregularities during the voting process was relatively low. Notably, all legally required polling personnel were present before the start of the voting process at 37,001 polling stations from which FAFEN received reports on the Election Day.
Only eligible voters assigned to the polling stations were being allowed to enter by mostly police, who were either checking voters’ National Identity Cards or chits issued by political parties.
As a result of improved training of election officials conducted by the Election Commission, the procedural irregularities in ballot processing that FAFEN had observed and reported in previous elections appear to have reduced.
The Election Commission has taken extraordinary measures over the last few years to address the concerns of Persons with Disabilities particularly under the aegis of its Gender and Disability Working Group, the report added.