February
16, 2008 Pakistan Gets Ready
for 'Mother of All Elections' By Muhammad Najeeb
Islamabad
Pakistan goes to the polls Monday to elect members to its national
parliament and four provincial assemblies in a contest President
Pervez Musharraf describes as the "mother of all elections" but
which others say is the most colorless in decades.
More than 80 million people are eligible to cast their votes in the
polls, the 10th general elections since formation of the country in
1947. The polls are being held under tight security with the army
out to help the law enforcing agencies to ensure peaceful polling.
The fear of violence, especially in the aftermath of the Dec 27
assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has kept
people away from public rallies and campaigning has been lackluster
with few gatherings compared to previous elections.
"I don't remember such a colorless election since 1970," said Waheed
Khan, 70, who had witnessed the country's first polls.
Election analysts are expecting less than 30 percent turnout due to
the security concerns and also because of the outdated election
lists. The Election Commission last year prepared fresh electoral
rolls but they were challenged in the court, which subsequently
ordered that all those listed in the previous lists be included.
On the court's order, 30 million people were added to the list
"which now includes the dead and many names have been duplicated",
an Election Commission official told IANS. According to the new
lists, half of Pakistan's 160 million population is listed in the
rolls.
"This is logically not possible," said Sarwar Bari, secretary
general of the Free and Fair Elections Network (FAFEN).
The three major political parties, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP),
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its breakaway faction
PML-Quaid (PML-Q), have run massive campaigns in the media with huge
advertisements in newspapers and television channels.
Of the 64,176 polling stations, 620 have been declared sensitive by
the provincial governments. The observers have also been asked to
stay away from these areas.
The Election Commission Saturday gave final touches to the
arrangements. "Election material has been transported to all polling
stations and everything is fine," said Secretary, Election
Commission, Kanwar M. Dilshad.
The National Assembly (NA) or the lower house has 342 seats, of
which 272 members are elected directly and 60 seats are reserved for
women and 10 for non-Muslims that are divided among the winning
parties on proportional representation. However, women and
non-Muslims are eligible to contest in the general elections as
well.
Monday's election will be held for 268 NA seats as polling on four
seats has been postponed. In three NA and eight provincial assembly
constituencies polling was put off due to the death of contesting
candidates, including in Bhutto's constituency Larkana. Election in
the South Waziristan Agency in the tribal areas has been cancelled
because of the security situation.
More than 2,300 candidates are vying for the 268 NA seats while more
than 4,200 are contesting for the 730 seats in the four provincial
assemblies.
For the first time in the country's history, 180 women are
contesting for the parliament while nine non-Muslims are also
standing in the direct elections.
The elections will also see for the first time a large number of
media organizations, including 67 television channels and 82 FM
Radio Stations in the private sector. "I believe these are the media
polls... Never before have elections been held in the presence of
such a vibrant media," said Adnan Rehmat, country director of
Internews.
More than 1,000 international monitors, observers and media persons
have also reached Pakistan to monitor the polls amid opposition
allegations the polls could be rigged by the establishment in favor
of the Musharraf-backed PML-Q.
On Friday, the Musharraf administration came further under pressure
after Human Rights Watch released a telephonic conversation with
Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum admitting that the PML-Q will
rig the polls.
Forty-nine political parties got themselves registered with the
Election Commission to get symbols. However, 13 of them fielded no
candidates while 11 have just one candidate each. The PPP is the
largest party with candidates for 207 NA seats followed by Nawaz
Sharif's PML that has 166 candidates and PML-Q with 154.
The fourth party, Mutahidda Qaumi Movement, has fielded 110
candidates for the first time. In the last elections, it had
contested just 31 seats.
There are some regional parties like the Awami National Party (ANP),
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, PML-Functional, PPP-Sherpao,
PPP-Parliamentarians, National Party and others. In the 2002
elections, 16 parties were able to get representation in the
National Assembly.
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