US State Department expects 'some' fraud in Pakistan polls
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US State Department said it expected Pakistan's upcoming elections to be tainted and called on all groups, including international monitors, to keep a tight scrutiny of the landmark event.
"We don't necessarily accept a certain level of fraud but if history is any guide and reports are any guide, we should expect some," Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said at a Congressional hearing on the February 18 polls.
Citing a group of Pakistani election observers, the State Department's pointman for South Asia told lawmakers that there had been reports of interference by local government officials on behalf of all political parties.
"So, it is an indication perhaps of what one might (expect) -- certain level of interference," he said.
But Boucher said it was incumbent on everyone to ensure that the parliamentary elections were credible so that a new leadership could emerge from "a legitimate process" to strengthen democratic institutions.
"I don't think we should give up on this issue," he told the hearing held by a national security and foreign affairs panel of the the House of Representatives, in which most lawmakers expressed scepticism over the polls.
"I think if everybody works to make it a good election, we can have a credible election in Pakistan. Everybody -- political parties, election commission, election observers, foreigners and domestic, civil society -- has to work to make this a good election," Boucher said.
He said that election observers "are important not just to point out problems where they exist (but) to keep the process honest."
John Tierney, the Congressional panel chairman, said that a distinguished panel of election observers from across the political spectrum had "concluded -- unambiguously -- that pre-election preparations offered little hope to Pakistanis that their voices will be heard in a free, fair, and transparent election."
"All the while, the essential goal of free and fair elections in Pakistan seems to be slipping from our grasp," Tierney warned.
The key question, he said, was the degree in which the Pakistani polls would be tainted, prompting Boucher to retort, "On a scale of terrible to great, somewhere in the middle."
Tierney then listed various factors that could point to flawed elections.
Voters' rolls failed to inspire confidence, he said, raising the specter of "massive disenfranchisement."
Pakistani media continued to operate under a "code of conduct" that criminalized criticism of President Pervez Musharraf's government, he said.
Many of Pakistan's leading judges and lawyers remain silenced, if not imprisoned, and opposition parties struggled to make their cases under restrictions on political expression and campaigning, he said.
In addition, international election observers faced "disabling barriers" to polling-place access, he said.
Tierney cited fears that Pakistan's intelligence and security services might play an "insipid role in rigging and intimidation" and underlined the need for a "legitimate and impartial" judiciary to ensure the transparency of the electoral process.
Musharraf had already sacked the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who is under house arrest, as well as other judges viewed as independent.
Boucher acknowledged that "kicking out the judicary is a bad move" by Musharraf but did not back demands by lawmakers that the Pakistani leader reinstate the sacked judges.
"The judiciary has been a matter of political controversy. They (Pakistan) need to deal with it, they need to have an independent judicary but I can't see them doing it till after elections with all the players, including the new players," he said.
