The Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) said on Thursday that controversies regarding the quality of the electoral process in the recently held Sindh local government polls “do not augur well”, especially when political parties are preparing for general elections.

In an observation report, Fafen noted that many controversies in the LG polls stemmed from weaknesses in the legislative framework that governed elections, adding that these needed to be rectified through negotiations among all political actors.

“Unless elections lead to political stability, the process of democratisation will continue to weaken and so will the public trust in democracy and its ability to improve the social and economic well-being of the people,” the report said.

At the same time, the Election Commission of Pakistan needs to open up to political actors and address their legitimate concerns, the report added.

The report further noted that an “impressive number” of voters turned up in Badin, Jamshoro, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar, Thatta, and Malir district while the turnout in Karachi Central, Karachi East, Karachi West,Karachi South, Korangi, Hyderabad, and Kemari districts was “relatively low”.

It also noted that the voting process remained orderly, unlike the first phase of the LG polls. However, it added that legal and procedural irregularities concerning campaigning inside and around polling stations, and the ballot issuance process were observed during the first phase persisted during the second as well.

“Fafen observers noted omissions and inadequacies in the polling station result forms (Form 11) recurring during the second phase. They reported cases where presiding officers did not duly fill out the result forms leaving empty sections made for recording polling stations’ names, registered voters, gender-disaggregated number of votes polled, and signatures of polling officials.”

The report recommended ensuring stricter enforcement of the code of conduct regarding campaigning and canvassing on election day, setting up adequately spaced polling booths, compliance with the voter identification and ballot issuance processes, availability of female staff at female polling booths, and provision of basic facilities at polling stations before the general elections to improve polling day management.

Observations

Fafen said its observations were based on reports received from “trained and duly accredited citizen observers” deployed at 343 statistically sampled polling stations.

It said it deployed 104 observers who observed the opening process at 90 polling stations, the availability of election staff and materials at the voting process at 953 polling booths, voter identification and ballot issuance processes for 1,121 voters, and counting process at 74 polling stations.

The report noted that the polling process during the second phase of LG election was “peaceful and organised with adequate security arrangements barring scattered instances of verbal altercations at a few polling stations”.

It further said that the enforcement of campaigning and canvassing restrictions by the ECP did not register any considerable improvement since the first phase of local government elections as “all major parties andcandidates were observed wooing voters in close vicinity of the polling stations, and in some instances inside the polling stations”.

It noted that the due procedure for counting ballots was followed at most polling stations, saying election staff was observed to be “generally complying” with counting requirements.

“At 89 per cent of the observed polling stations, the presiding officers placed the ballot boxes at a central location before opening them and starting the counting. The doors at 64pc of the polling stations were closed before the start of counting so that no person can leave or enter the room during the process. At 4pc of the observed polling stations, unauthorised persons were present during the counting process.”

It further said that the presiding officers at 18pc of the observed polling stations conducted a second count of the ballots at the request of polling agents, while at 45pc on their own motion. “Moreover, the polling agents and security officials were seen to be touching the ballot papers at 12pc and 4pc of the polling stations, respectively.”

According to observers, the election materials were available at the majority of the observed polling booths. Indelible ink and stamp pads were availableat 93pc of the observed polling booths, electoral rolls, and secrecy at 92pc, nine-matrix stamps used for marking ballot papers by voters at 93pc, ECP official stamps at 89pc, and transparent ballot boxes at 90pc.“

The second phase of the local government elections was held in 16 districts of Sindh on Sunday. However, major contesting parties — including the ruling PPP — had raised concerns over an unusual delay in the results in Karachi and blamed the ECP for mismanagement.

The ECP took more than 36 hours to announce the results of 236 union committees of Karachi as the opposition PTI and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) accused the provincial administration of “rigging and managing things” in its favour. However, contesting parties remain unsure about their mandate as the electoral watchdog has yet to consolidate the results.

A day earlier, violent clashes broke out in Karachi between workers of rival political parties outside offices of the district returning officers forcing police in the metropolis to intervene to stop the situation from getting out of control.