*ISLAMABAD: As the General Elections are set to be held next month thesponsored surveys start to creep in.*
The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT)has termed the pre-poll process in the country ‘unfair’ in its pre-electionassessment report.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the organisation said the score onpre-poll fairness perception was at 51.5 per cent on a scale of 100. Thestudy, conducted from April 2017 to March 2018, rests findings through 11parameters, where two parameters fell in the “highly unfair” scale.
The report cited the parameters as perception of neutrality of militarytowards competing political parties and candidates receiving the lowestscore i.e. 33.4 per cent and perception of freedom of private media fromthe influence of state institutions and vested interests at 37.8 per cent.
According to the report, “unfair scale” included perception of neutralityof the state-owned media at 41.5 per cent, followed by that ofaccountability process led by the National Accountability Bureau, whichstood at 43.1 per cent. The perception of neutrality of judiciary also fellin the scale of ‘unfair’ with a score of 45.8 per cent.
The study found that parameters pertaining to level field provided by theElections Commission of Pakistan received the highest scores.
“Perception of credibility of electoral rolls has received the highestscore of 67.3 per cent while independence, neutrality and effectiveness ofECP received 65.3 per cent.
Meanwhile “perception of fairness and adherence to laws and rules relatingto the electoral constituencies delimitation process has also received ahigh score of 64 per. Lack of ability of the president and governors toinfluence elections received score of 61.8 per cent while lack of abilityof local government’s influence on elections was found at 57.8 per cent.
“The parameter on maintenance of law and order to allow politicalactivities on a level playing field has also received a score of 57.8% thatindicates that compared to the pre-electoral environment leading to 2013General Election where parties were unable to hold public rallies, thescenario has been relatively stable leading up to General Election 2018.”