Japanese observers term polls transparent | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Japanese observers term polls transparent

ISLAMABAD: The election observation team from the government of Japan said they observed the February 18 general election in Pakistan was conducted smoothly and transparently.

Throughout election process, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was consistently cooperative with the foreign observation teams including Japan. The Japanese team was able to freely visit all the polling stations except for the ones which appeared in the sensitive list, said a statement issued here by Japan Embassy on Wednesday. The 15-member election observation team headed by Takao Kawakami, former Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, observed the election process from February 16 to 19. The Japanese team on the basis of its observation, has made the assessment that except for the cases below, the polling and counting processes were conducted smoothly and transparently as a whole. Some minor procedural problems such as the delayed opening of polling stations or other irregularities were found occasionally. Also, there was an allegation of fraud in one of the polling stations visited concerning the postal ballot system by a polling agent, in which some of the voters were not allowed to vote because the voters’ list showed that they had already voted through this postal vote system, it added.

Source: The News
Date:2/21/2008

ISLAMABAD: The election observation team from the government of Japan said they observed the February 18 general election in Pakistan was conducted smoothly and transparently.

Throughout election process, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was consistently cooperative with the foreign observation teams including Japan. The Japanese team was able to freely visit all the polling stations except for the ones which appeared in the sensitive list, said a statement issued here by Japan Embassy on Wednesday. The 15-member election observation team headed by Takao Kawakami, former Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, observed the election process from February 16 to 19. The Japanese team on the basis of its observation, has made the assessment that except for the cases below, the polling and counting processes were conducted smoothly and transparently as a whole. Some minor procedural problems such as the delayed opening of polling stations or other irregularities were found occasionally. Also, there was an allegation of fraud in one of the polling stations visited concerning the postal ballot system by a polling agent, in which some of the voters were not allowed to vote because the voters’ list showed that they had already voted through this postal vote system, it added.

Source: The News
Date:2/21/2008