ECP launches its 3rd 'strategic plan'

Days before the retirement of Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza (retd) on December 6, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Wednesday launched its 3rd Strategic Plan (2019-23) which strives to "deliver inclusive and credible elections that the people trust" and "to hold free, fair and transparent elections that truly reflect the will of the people in democratic processes."

The strategic planning process began with the ECP's post-election review exercise (after general election held in July last year), followed by consultations with all the electoral stakeholders, including political parties, civil society, observer groups, women organizations, media, and electoral administrators at the district, regional, provincial and national levels, the ECP said in a statement following the launch of the 3rd Strategic Plan.

"Following a series of nationwide consultations, reviews and workshops, the ECP has developed this comprehensive 3rd Strategic Plan document, which will go a long way in improving both the electoral process and the internal capacity of the organization," the ECP said.

The ECP has listed six 'guiding principles' and 11 'pillars' in the 3rd Strategic Plan: The guiding principles are: 1) independence and impartiality; 2) integrity and accountability; 3) efficiency; 4) transparency; 5) inclusiveness; and 6) service-mindedness and professionalism.

The pillars are; 1) legal framework, 2) electoral integrity and public perception, 3) institutional development, 4) training and capacity development, 5) election operations, 6) budget, finance and procurement, 7) voter registration and participation, 8) information, communication and electoral technologies, 9) electoral complaints and dispute resolution, 10) gender mainstreaming and social inclusion, 11) and monitoring, evaluation and research.

The Strategic Plan, the ECP said, is part of its initiative to continue to improve Pakistan's electoral processes.

"Pakistan conducts one of the largest single-day elections in the world. To meet this challenge, all electoral stakeholders form a part of the accountability of the electoral process. The ECP appreciates the invaluable feedback gained from all the stakeholders which led to the development of this strategic plan. The ECP looks forward to working with all the stakeholders in its implementation," the statement said.

"The ECP expects that this plan will assist the organization in increasing its capacity, and the inclusive and open nature of the strategic planning process will enable all the stakeholders to take ownership of the plan. This will bolster the integrity, transparency, efficiency and inclusiveness in the administration and conduct of future election and the overall electoral process," it added.

Prior to the launch of the 3rd Strategic Plan, the ECP launched 1st Strategic Plan (2010-14) and 2nd Strategic Plan (2014-18). However, the ECP remained under sharp criticism from the political parties, electoral watchdogs, civil society and public circles for failing to achieve key targets envisioned in both the previous strategic plans to ensure free and fair elections including the introduction of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and biometric voting machines (BVMs) in the general election.

Though the ECP has used the EVMs and BVMs at some polling stations during the by-election held at certain seats of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies, the ECP's target to introduce the EVMs and BVMs in the next general election, scheduled in 2023, appears to be a challenge due to financial constraints and capability of the Commission to deal with the technical hitches involving electronic voting, sources in the ECP told Business Recorder. In September 2017, the test run of 100 BVMs used in a by-poll at National Assembly's constituency NA-120 did not yield promising results as machines failed to read fingerprints of 12 percent voters, the ECP had announced then.