PAKISTAN ELECTIONS: PREPARATION AND MONITORING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 005305 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PK SUBJECT: PAKISTAN ELECTIONS: PREPARATION AND MONITORING REF: ISLAMABAD 5160 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. December 15 was the last day for candidates to withdraw or change political parties in the run-up to Pakistan's January 8 parliamentary elections. All the major parties will contest the election and are now heavily engaged in campaigning. USG- and international donor-sponsored election preparation programs are winding down and observer/monitoring missions are moving into place. The U.S. Mission will field 31 observer teams and is coordinating with the UK, Canada and (hopefully) Japan to expand our reach. We plan to include our expected congressional delegations into our observer teams. Post is forwarding party allegations of vote rigging to the professionals in the IRI monitoring team. We do not expect a clear winner on election day; it could take weeks for the parties to form a coalition government and choose a new prime minister. This will mean an extended period of protracted uncertainty. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) This is one of a series of upcoming reports on the January 8 National Assembly and Provincial Assembly elections in Pakistan. We will be providing in the next few weeks primers on the major political parties, profile bios of potential prime ministers, and continuing analyses of what is expected to be a close race among the major political parties. At this point, it appears no single party will be able to form the next government in Pakistan. The game will be coalition building among rival and often contentious parties and leaders. Because it is unlikely there will be a clear winner, it could take weeks after the election for the parties to form a government and choose a new prime minister. This will mean an extended period of protracted uncertainty. ¶3. (SBU) December 15 was the last day that candidates could withdraw or switch parties, so the final analysis of prospects for electoral districts is underway by all the political parties. Overall, the Election Commission has approved 7,335 candidates for national and provincial assembly seats. Only a handful of the smaller parties, including Qazi Hussain's Jamaat-e-Islami and Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf decided in the end to boycott. The big three -- Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, Pervaiz Elahi's Pakistan Muslim League, and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N -- as well as Altaf Hussain's Muttahida Quami Movement and Fazlur Rehman's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, are all now campaigning in earnest. There will be a lull for the Eid holiday (December 20-22) and Mohammad Ali Jinnah's birthday (December 25); the biggest campaign push will take place in the last week before the January 8 elections. According to law, the last day for campaigning is January 6. Election Day Preparation/Planning -------------- ¶4. (SBU) USG- and international donor-sponsored elections preparation programs are winding down. The Asia Foundation is completing its voter education programs. IFES and a USAID-funded contractor are completing work on placing the voter list on DVDs for distribution to the parties and on the Election Commission's website. All of the 430,000 transparent ballot boxes purchased by the USG and Japan have been delivered to the Election Commission for dissemination across the country. IRI distributed its latest pre-election poll to the political parties last week. The United Nations Development Program has already published and distributed comprehensive guide books for polling/returning officers and continues to train polling officials through December 31. NDI is finishing its political parties' poll watcher training. ¶5. (SBU) IRI is fielding its long-term monitors in seven hubs around the country; by election day, IRI will have 65 monitors on the ground. IRI will be producing, within 48 hours after the polls close, an initial assessment of whether the elections were credible. The EC has finally decided to go forward with its monitoring team of 50 long-term and possibly 30 short-term monitors. The Asia Foundation is in the process of accrediting up to 20,000 domestic observers. ISLAMABAD 00005305 002 OF 002 ¶6. (SBU) The U.S. Mission is fielding 31 election observer teams throughout the country. We are coordinating with the UK (15 teams),the Canadians (20 teams) and (hopefully) the Japanese (6 teams). We will establish a control center in the Embassy to coordinate mission observer teams and provide Washington with field updates on how election day activities are progressing. The U.S. Mission is for observation and fraud prevention only; we will not/not be issuing any public statements on the credibility of the elections. ¶7. (SBU) As of now, we are expecting three congressional delegations and one staff delegation on election day. We plan to include the delegations in our planned election observation missions in Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore/Punjab, and (security permitting) Quetta. Press Coverage -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The GOP has announced it will establish a media election village near the Associated Press of Pakistan headquarters in Islambad. Reportedly this will be a state of the art facility where journalists can file stories and receive their Election Commission accreditation to cover election reporting. We expect significant numbers of U.S. and other international press. ¶9. (SBU) Although we expect the media gradually to ramp up to its pre-State of Emergency criticism of all politicians, the code of conduct that has been imposed on the media is creating self-censorship by both print and electronic media journalists. Geo TV remains off the air. Vote Rigging Allegations -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Led by the Pakistan People's Party, virtually all the opposition parties are publicly complaining about vote rigging by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League party. Accusations include alleged bribing by the intelligence services, illegal transfers of judges who will monitor election returns, continued distribution of political spoils by district nazims (mayors),and reports of intimidation of opposition party workers by police and security services. Parties have complained the Election Commission is not responding. ¶11. (SBU) Post is forwarding reports of alleged abuses to the professional monitors in IRI for their assessment and inclusion in their election reports. Restrictions on Campaigning/Voting -------------- ¶12. (SBU) While most detained opposition political party workers have been freed, Aitzaz Ahsan and several of the deposed Supreme and High Court judges remain under house arrest. The Election Commission's code of conduct for parties, coupled with the Ministry of Interior's own restrictions on large political gatherings (reftel),has so far restricted the ability of parties to hold big rallies. On the positive side, there have been no more suicide bombings of political rallies since the death of over 140 Pakistan People's Party workers in Karachi on October 18. ¶13. (SBU) It is still unclear the extent to which security concerns will prevent elections from taking place in Swat, Tank (Northwest Frontier Province) and several agencies (North and South Waziristan at the very least) in the Federally Administered Tribal Area. PATTERSON