Pakistan goes to the parliamentary polls Monday to elect a national assembly (Lower House of Parliament) and four provincial legislatures to complete the third phase of transition to full democracy, officials said. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has made countrywide foolproof arrangements to conduct the polls described by President Pervez Musharraf as mother of all elections that are highly important for the future of our country. The government has made extensive arrangements across Pakistan to ensure safe and secure environment for more than 80 million registered voters to exercise their right to vote. Police and paramilitary Rangers backed up by the Pakistan Army will maintain law and order during and after the crucial vote. Director General of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said that 95 battalions of Army have been deployed in sensitive and very sensitive areas in the four provinces to assist maintenance of law and order. Army will not interfere or have any role in the conduct of the elections which is the sole responsibility of the Election Commission, he said. Abbas said a total of 81,000 personnel of civil armed forces and Army have been deployed. All major political parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), Pakistan People s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and PML-Nawaz are participating in the election, the second under Musharraf s agenda for democracy to take roots in Pakistan. The president has reiterated his pledge to the nation for a free, fair and transparent and peaceful elections, urging the nation to turn out and elect their representatives. The stage is set with all arrangements in place for the momentous event, ECP Secretary Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad said. A number of improvements have been made in the electoral mechanism for the forthcoming elections. For the first time 430,000 transparent ballot boxes imported from China will be used at all 64,176 polling stations already notified on the Election Commission s website. Special voting screens have been arranged by the ECP which also put on its website computerized electoral rolls as well as list of all polling stations. In a significant departure from the past practice, the Returning Officers will announce results at their respective polling stations on the basis of vote counts received from polling stations. The election campaigning was affected by tragic assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007 and two days of riots that followed it. This month terrorists targeted some election rallies in the North West Frontier Province. In view of the security situation and threat of terrorism, the government has provided adequate security to political leaders and strict security arrangements have also been made at their rallies. The electioneering greatly picked up in the week before the polls with political leaders addressing a string of public meetings in different parts of Pakistan. The campaigning grinded to a halt on Saturday night for 48-hour cooling off span ahead of the voting day. Officials said more than 500 international observers have reached Pakistan to monitor the polls while more are expected to arrive before the polling day. The ECP has made elaborate arrangements to facilitate the task of the observers. We have instructed our officers throughout the country to facilitate them to the maximum to ensure that they can monitor the election process, Dilshad said. The ECP has been conducting an awareness campaign through print and electronic media to inform the electors about the importance of vote and how to exercise it and their rights and responsibilities. It has not only introduced new electoral commodities but also, with the assistance of UNDP and other organizations, arranged a comprehensive orientation programme for all election officials, including district returning officers, returning officers, assistant returning officers, presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers.
