ISLAMABAD: The United States and Japan have together provided $23.6 million to Pakistan to help conduct fair and transparent elections in the country. The funding is part of the overall $87 million financial assistance which was aimed at promoting democracy and undertaking the much-talked-about governance reforms in all the four provinces.

According to USAID officials, $20.1 million funding for supporting fair and competitive elections is a key step in Pakistan’s democratic development. This project, they said, was about strengthening the Election Commission of Pakistan’s ability to implement the election plan. It has created new computerized electoral rolls with 80 million names and provided 215,000 transparent ballot boxes and six million security seals. It has also trained election officials to update and improve the presentation of voter lists at 45,000 display centres. The project has also produced information material to educate voters on the process.

Approximately 2.7 million names were added to the 2007 electoral rolls during the voter registration verification phase. Further assistance was provided through The Asia Foundation (TAF), aimed at supporting domestic election monitoring efforts. A network of 40 civil society organizations, called the Free and Fair Elections Network (FAFEN), has augmented domestic oversight and reporting for pre- and post-election monitoring. The domestic monitoring will cover more than 40,000 polling stations with 20,000 observers. It has informed the public on issues ranging from election-related information to candidates’ socio-economic backgrounds.

Another project, funded by multiple donors, including the USAID and administered by the United Nations Development Programme, has trained 600,000 polling staff and other election officials and prepared training material tailored to the responsibilities of the various officials. UNDP is also ensuring facilitation and training to the international observers. USAID has funded the International Republican Institute to provide short-term international observers for Pakistan’s election. Since its start in 2003 and with an overall budget of $84.23 million, to date USAID’s Democracy and Governance Programme is working to strengthen parliamentary institutions, improve electoral processes, reform political parties, and advance Pakistan’s devolution process.

Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Project (PLSP) reinforces the National Assembly, the Senate and all the four provincial assemblies. It has trained hundreds of parliamentary members on rules of procedure, the committee system, law drafting and budget review. In addition, it is improving lawmakers’ access to analysis and data; providing assistance and equipment to key committees; improving press coverage of parliament by training journalists; and strengthening the oversight capacity of national and provincial legislatures. Through this project, USAID also is supporting the establishment of the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS), which will provide training, orientation, analysis, and staff support to current and future parliamentary members and staff.

Internal Party Reforms project was recently completed that helped Pakistani political parties to become more responsive to and representative of their constituents’ interests by undertaking internal reforms. The NDI programme supported democratization of parties’ internal governing structures and processes by promoting a new tier of reform-minded party workers to advance these reforms. This 35-month training project was implemented in Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh, and featured active participation of both secular and Islamist parties. In the final months of the activity, efforts were shifted toward improving political parties’ interactions with the Election Commission and encouraging participation in voter registration.

USAID officials said that a series of roundtable dialogues were conducted to encourage political parties’ active participation in voter registration, monitoring and verification of voter lists. These roundtables resulted in agreement among various parties on joint recommendations to improve the processes. These recommendations were sent to the Election Commission and publicized in national and regional media. Results from this project include conceptualization and implementation of creative projects within the participating political parties, local-level party elections, and development of party member lists.

As far as Japan is concerned, the Japanese ambassador handed over $3.5 million worth of the election supplies to the ECP last year. The funding has been provided to support election preparation through its contribution to the joint programme of the Government of Pakistan and the UNDP.

The Japanese contribution has been used to procure new transparent ballot boxes as well as other electoral commodities such as tamper-resistant seals and polling booths at polling stations, which would contribute to free, fair and transparent elections.