LAHORE – European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) Pakistan 2018chief observer Michael Gahler on Thursday expressed satisfaction overgeneral election preparedness, security measures and the atmosphere to holdfair, free and transparent elections.
He said that the electoral climate is satisfactory and the technicalpreparations are well-placed, but the election day (July 25) is the reallitmus test of all measures.
About the mandate of the EU election observation mission, Gahler said themission was mandated to observe elections from beginning to the end andgive its recommendations in the light of the feedback from its team ofabout 100 people. He said the EUEOM was to observe the entire electoralprocess, assess operations, legal framework, voting procedure on theelection day besides vote counting and transmission of results.
About the procedure, the official said that the mission would engage allpolitical parties, candidates, supporters, local election commissionofficials, local press and other relevant bodies and know how theatmosphere and election process were being run.
Responding to a query, he said their task was also to receive complaintsand watch procedures how the complaints had been handled, adding that theywere not supposed to make judgments.
About the team and its working, he said the core team of 10 experts wasbased in Islamabad, while 60 long-term observers had been divided into 30teams comprising two members each. He said they would be joined by the EUparliamentarians and the local embassy staff.
He said these 100 people would visit multiple constituencies, assess theelectoral atmosphere and meet the stakeholders. He said these observerswould visit several hundred polling stations and their preliminary andfinal reports would be based on the data collected by the team members.
Gahler said the law and order situation and overall security scenario,prior to the Mastung terror attack in Balochistan, had improved a lotcompared with the 2013 general elections, as he was the EUEOM’s chiefobserver then as well. He said it was not surprising that terrorist outfitswere targeting the final phase of the election campaign and that was whythe country experienced three or four terror attacks.
He said that he had been informed by the government that a large number ofpolice, rangers and army personnel would be deployed to protect the pollingstations.
He appreciated deployment of army on the polling day to ensure security ofvoters and ward off any terrorist attack. “It is an unfortunate but anecessary step to deploy the army at polling stations, but it had been donein the past as well,” he added.
Regarding the scope of the observer mission, Gahler said the mission wouldobserve election 2018 in all provinces except for Balochistan, adding thatthe decision had been made in the wake of Mastung terror attack.
He urged Pakistanis to turn up in large numbers on the election day tostrengthen democracy in their country.
About the press freedom during election, he said there could be somecomplaints and the mission would consider those in its final report, addingthat anything that curtails information and access was against the spiritof democracy. He said the EU backed the freedom of media and speech.
About allegations of rigging against the government institutions, Gahlersaid EUEOM had asked the complainants to approach the right forum forrelief as it could not make any judgements, but only observe. He urged thecandidates and political parties to report rigging on the polling day andnot after losing elections.
He said that security had been provided to the EUEOM, but regretted thebureaucratic hiccups in arrival of 60 long-term observer team.Michael Gahler said the political parties should present their program totheir voters and promise they would deliver on it. He urged voters to comeout of their houses on the polling day and cast their vote to choose thecandidates of their choice. – APP