Only four cases were decided by the election tribunals in December 2014 whereas a petition decided earlier has been remanded back by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. So far 358 out of 411 post-election disputes (332 out of 385 by tribunals and 26 by ECP) have been decided, while another 53 are still pending with the tribunals.
Free and Fair Election Network's (FAFEN's) election observation was divided in three logical phases; pre-election, Election Day and post-election. This report is based on post-election observation conducted by FAFEN observers in 124 districts across the country. Lehri and Sohbatpur in Balochistan and Korangi in Sindh were not treated as separate districts in this report as they were granted the status of district after 2013 General Elections while National Assembly constituencies in Muzaffargarh, Kohlu and Khyber Agency were not observed.
Only seven cases were decided by the election tribunals in November 2014 - bringing the total number of decided cases to 355 out of 4111(329 out of 385 by the tribunals and 26 by the ECP itself). On the other hand, 56 petitions are still awaiting decisions. Of the 355 cases, 154 (128 by the tribunals and 26 by the ECP itself) have been dismissed on grounds of technical deficiencies, implying that the merits of the petitions were not adjudicated on. Thirty-nine petitions have been accepted; 23 dismissed due to non-prosecution; 29 dismissed as withdrawn and 95 dismissed after complete trial. The reasons for dismissal of 15 petitions are not known to FAFEN due to non-availability of their copies of orders despite continuous efforts to obtain them.
The election tribunals decided six cases in October 2014 bringing the total number of decided cases to 348 out of 411 (322 of 385 by the tribunals and 26 by the ECP itself) while 63 petitions are pending. Of the decided 348 cases, 153 (127 by the tribunals and 26 by the ECP itself) have been dismissed on grounds of technical deficiencies implying that the merits of the petitions were not adjudicated on. Thirty-eight (38) petitions have been accepted, 23 dismissed due to non-prosecution, 29 dismissed as withdrawn and 89 dismissed after complete trial. The reasons for dismissal of 16 petitions are not known to FAFEN due to unavailability of copies of orders despite continuous efforts to obtain them.
Ten cases were decided by the election tribunals during the month of September 2014 - bringing the total number of decided cases to 342 out of 4111 (316 out of 385 by the tribunals and 26 by the ECP itself). As many as 69 petitions are still awaiting decisions by the tribunals. Of the 342 cases, 153 (127 by the tribunals and 26 by the ECP itself) have been dismissed on grounds of technical deficiencies, implying that the merits of the petitions were not adjudicated on. Thirty-four petitions have been accepted; 22 dismissed due to non-prosecution; 29 dismissed as withdrawn and 74 dismissed after complete trial. The reasons for dismissal of 30 petitions are not known to FAFEN due to non-availability of their copies of orders despite continuous efforts to obtain them.
For the first time in Pakistan's electoral history, political parties are discussing the possibility and modus operandi of investigating the quality of General Elections 2013 with the purpose of determining whether they were “rigged”. Election audits are very rare, and such an investigation is a complex and technical task. Therefore, it is understandable that there have been delays in finalizing the scale and scope of the probe so that it is mutually agreeable to the political parties on both sides of the deadlock. There is no standard methodology or procedure to investigate an election.
Five cases were decided by the election tribunals between August 11-31, 2014 - bringing the total number of decided cases to 331 out of 410 (305 out of 384 by the tribunals and 26 by the ECP itself). Of the most recent five cases, only one was accepted while four were dismissed. Meanwhile, 79 petitions are still awaiting decisions by the tribunals.
As part of FAFEN's comprehensive election observation strategy, a long-term observation of critical processes and implementation of laws, rules and regulations was conducted between February and May 11, 2013 — the day elections were held. The observation was carried out at the district level prior to the announcement of the election schedule. Following the announcement of the schedule constituency level observation was initiated in 267 constituency to spearhead the pre-election observation exercise.
Only eight cases were decided by the election tribunals between July 01 and August 10, 2014 -bringing the total number of decided cases to 326 out of 410 (300 out of 384 by the tribunals and 26 by the ECP itself). Of the most recent eight cases, five were accepted while three were dismissed due to multiple reasons. On the other hand, 84 petitions are still awaiting decisions by the election tribunals.
There were 17 petitions decided in the month of June 2014 -sixteen by election tribunals and one by the ECP. However, given the backlog of pending petitions and the expiry of the tribunals’ tenure, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has extended the tenure of tribunals following their failure to resolve all post-election disputes within the legally-stipulated deadline. Overall, as many as 318(78%) out of the 410 cases have so far been decided by the tribunals and the ECP (292 out of 384 by tribunals and 26by ECP)while 92 (22%) petitions are still awaiting decisions.The ECP constituted 14 tribunals across the country following the 2013 elections to redress election-related complaints of contesting candidates.The tribunals were legally bound to decide each case within 120 days of its receipt.
