Wednesday, 15 May 2013

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Last Update: Wednesday, 15 May 2013 KSA 09:16 - GMT 06:16

Pakistan polls may have been fairest ever despite fixing claims
Wednesday, 15 May 2013

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A voter holds his Computerised National Identity Card as he w aits to cast his vote at a polling station in Quetta May 11, 2013. (Reuters) 0 Like 0 Tw eet 16

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Al Arabiya with AFP Despite some Pakistani v oters and politicians claiming last Saturday s elections were rigged, technology may hav e helped in making the polls the fairest ev er. Pakistan's database authority ov ersaw an increase in the registration of women from 50 percent during the last polls to 86 percent by adding all adults with an ID card to the v oter roll. The agency culled the dead from the electoral roll, and clamped down on ID card fraud that resulted in some people v oting dozens of times in the last election. It put in place measures that allowed polling stations to access would-be v oters' photographs and ev en check thumb impressions against the national database in cases of suspected fraud. The agency also allowed v oters to SMS their ID card number to instantly find which polling station they should use -- a serv iced accessed 55 million times. "Technology has strengthened democracy in Pakistan, enhanced turnout, eroded corruption and enhanced transparency ," Tariq Malik, chairman of the National Database Registration Authority , told AFP news agency . But Malik warned that technology can only do so much and poll officials remained susceptible to corruption. On Sunday , v oters reeling from the outcome rev ealed they were told to keep there mouth shut when they alleged v ote rigging. On Saturday night, the official results carried Pakistan Muslim Leagues Nawaz Sharif to power, building up enough momentum to av oid hav ing to form a coalition with his main riv als, former cricketer Imran Khan's Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Rida Naqv i, a polling agent in Lahore on Saturday who was responsible for keeping tabs on v oters and the ballot box , was angered by ex treme disorder, she witnessed while at work. I saw v otes being put into the ballot box es without hav ing signatures on them, she told Al

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Arabiy a on Sunday . When I went to complain, I was told to keep my mouth shut [by security officers] because this was my first time doing this duty and they had been here for y ears. I wanted to tell them no doubt y ou hav e been here for y ears, which is ex actly why we nev er had fair elections! Naqv i said she has since attempted to complain to the media, European observ ers monitoring the polls and presiding Pakistani officers. But they all just nodded and kept quiet, she said. Murmurings on Saturday cast early doubts on the v alidity of the v ote when the leader of the gov erning Pakistan People's Party , Taj Haider, alleged rigging in some constituencies, among them in Sindh prov ince and its capital, Karachi. Meanwhile, leaders of one of Pakistan's largest and most liberal parties, the Sindh-based Mutahida Qaumi Mov ement (MQM), told reporters that they would boy cott the elections ov er allegations of rigging, according to CNN. The Sunni Ittehad Council and Jamaat e Islami parties also announced a boy cott, Pakistans Geo TV reported on election day . At one point during the v oting, Pakistan's election commission ordered a re-v ote in more than 30 polling stations in a Karachi constituency ov er allegations of ballot stuffing, a spokesman said. It was a Karachi constituency controlled by MQM, the group which later announced its boy cott. Imran Khan, meanwhile, also accused the MQM of ballot stuffing in Karachi, according to AFP. But the mov ement was quick to deny the accusations. In reference to allegations of v ote-rigging made by the members of his party , Khan said in telev ised remarks on Sunday : "God willing, we will issue a white paper." One Karachi v oter pointed out that city quickly became the focus for allegations of fraud. The elections held in Pakistan were total scam; rigging was the usual way of work for the polling

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stations in the whole of Sindh and Punjab, especially Karachi, Shujaat Haider told Al Arabiy a.
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Polling stations were hijacked by unidentified men and where they weren't, the presiding officers did their part, Haider added, in reference to poll officials taking part in the alleged corruption. The Karachi resident said that in one of the city s polling station, NA 250, a presiding officer did not turn up. The officer was supposed to preside ov er two stations. When we [Haider and other residents] asked why there was no officer, we were told he had gotten upset ov er something and will not be coming and to stop asking questions. So they sent 1 400 registered v oters home. After complaints that polling stations opened late, or hadnt been operating at all, v oting was ex tended by three hours in sev en Karachi constituencies Haider said he was angered by the disorder and rigging attempts, but the large v oter turnout still allowed him and other Pakistanis to feel the change. Ev en though I did not support the party that has won the elections, we must acknowledge the fact that the change has come." Scores of people lined up for hours and hours to practice their democratic right and play their part in making change happen, Haider added.

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