HRW questions EC’s impartiality

New York—The failure of Pakistan’s Election Commission to act on allegations of irregularities means the electoral machinery for national elections due on February 18, 2008 cannot be considered impartial, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. The structure of the commission, which has wide powers to investigate complaints and take action, also suggests it will not rule fairly in the election.
Since the official election period commenced in November 2007, the Election Commission of Pakistan has ignored allegations of widespread irregularities, including arrests and harassment of opposition candidates and party members, and the misuse of state resources, administration and state machinery to the advantage of candidates backed by President Pervez Musharraf.
“There have been numerous complaints of improper government assistance to the ruling party and illegal interference with opposition activities,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “But the election commission has done nothing significant to address these problems, raising serious questions about its impartiality.”
Human Rights Watch said that the Election Commission has taken virtually no action on the widespread harassment of opposition candidates through the registration of police cases against them, police obstruction of opposition rallies, and the removal of lawful opposition banners and billboards.
The Election Commission’s lack of independence and impartiality is among the crucial structural issues impeding free and fair elections. The president currently appoints the chief election commissioner and the other commission members. The election law requires members of the Election Commission, an ad hoc body, to be High Court judges; their part-time status in the Election Commission compromises their effectiveness. Two were appointed after Musharraf imposed a state of emergency on November 3, calling into question their impartiality. For example, Justice Ghulam Dastagir Shahani, a lawyer with no judicial experience, was appointed to the Sindh High Court on December 14 and to the Election Commission on January 5, by Musharraf, although more experienced judges were available. The current chief election commissioner, Qazi Muhammad Farooq, a retired Supreme Court judge, called his impartiality into question when he amended the rules of the presidential polls of October 2007 to allow Musharraf to contest the election while still army chief, in violation of a clear constitutional prohibition.
The Election Commission has ignored recommendations made by international observers, including the European Union, such as changing the method of appointment of the chief election commissioner and other members to ensure their impartiality. A key recommendation from international election monitors in past elections relates to the vote count aggregation and delays in announcement between results at polling stations and the final result. Problems identified in the past have included the provision of results at polling stations on unofficial papers. Transparency would be greatly improved if certified copies of each polling station result (compiled on form XVI) and aggregated results (compiled on form XVII) were made immediately available to the media, candidates, polling agents, and observers.
Under Pakistani law, the president cannot hold a party political affiliation and is obliged to be neutral in parliamentary elections. In the past, the presidency has been a largely ceremonial post and seen as “above” party politics. But, since taking power in a coup in 1999, Musharraf has radically changed the constitution to increase the powers of the presidency at the expense of parliamentary powers, at the same time creating and supporting a political party, thePML-Q, to serve his interests.
While Musharraf maintains that he has installed a neutral caretaker government to oversee elections, he has openly supported the PML-Q and its allied parties, and formed a caretaker government filled with PML-Q office-bearers and members.—Agencies