Pakistan

National Database & Registration Authority

Ministry of Interior
Government of Pakistan

otes
Election Commission of Pakistan
Government Of Pakistan

Danish Kayani | Faran Ra

Publisher: Coffee Communications Date Of Publish: April 2013
Copyrights 2013 NADRA

Authors:

Quaid Said
You have to stand guard over the development and maintenance of Islamic democracy, Islamic social justice and the equality of manhood in your own native soil.

Table of Contents
Introduction Message from Chairman NADRA Message from Chief Election Commissioner Chapter 1: Elections in Pakistan
1.1- A brief history 03 04 05 06 06 10 11 13 14 15 16 19 20 21 3.3 - Issues: Electoral Rolls 2002, 2007 3.4 - Preparation of Electoral Rolls 2012 Phase I: Phase II: Phase III: 3.5 - Improvements Virtual Verification of Vote Registration of Eunuchs Voters Picture on Electoral Rolls Increase in Women Voters Increase in Non-Muslim Voters 24 25 25 25 25 28 28 29 30 31 34 38 50 52

Chapter 2: Pakistan in International Context

2.1 - General Elections (Since 1947) 2.2 - Women Participation 2.3 - Average Voter Turnout 2.4 - Compulsory Voting 2.5 - Minimum Voter Age

Chapter 3: Electoral Rolls

3.1 - What is an Electoral Roll 3.2 - Electoral Rolls in Pakistan

Chapter 4: Voter Demographics in Pakistan Conclusion References

02

Throughout our history, the political process has been marred by consequential turbulences. Within the 65 years of its creation, Pakistan has seen very few general elections, that too not in a timely manner. The lack of transparency and archaic system of voter registrations have been complimented by very low voter turn outs. All these have slowed the democratic process within the country, not giving the system proper time to flourish. Commissioned by the Chairman of National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), Tariq Malik the report intends to shed light on the demographics of the voting population in the upcoming general elections in Pakistan and report upon the creation and validation of recently created computerized electoral rolls. This report highlights the key issues that the democracy in Pakistan has faced, starting with the history of general elections in Pakistan, it goes on to outline the process of elections and electoral rolls that this country has seen. The focus of this report is the stress upon the importance of the creation of the new modern

computerized electoral rolls, which have enabled Pakistan to come closer to making free and fair elections a reality. It is important to understand the role of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and NADRA in the creation of these electoral rolls and how time and again efforts have been launched to manually and systematically verify these computer-generated electoral rolls. Last but not the least, the most significant aspect of this report is regarding the demographics of voters in Pakistan. With the help of NADRAs bio-metric database, considered as one of the largest in the world, these demographics have been used to visualize the nature of the voters in the upcoming elections. It also helps understand the psychographics and other factors that will shape the future of politics in Pakistan. This report also manifests the strength of Pakistans current database which currently hosts data and records of about 96 per cent of the adult population of Pakistan that is more than 90 million people, therefore it can be

used for various analytical purposes to help the public sector in the country. Data pool of this magnitude alleviates the need for any ground research and covers all major aspects of a persons social standing. General elections of 2013, being considered the most pivotal elections in the nations history, will include within them a wide variety of voters. These demographics also highlight the need to make proper electoral campaigns in order to target the audience better. Some of these surprising demographics also show how various social groups which are generally considered minorities or less empowered will play the deciding card within the upcoming elections. Simultaneously, however, this report aims to convince everyone about the importance of vote and why taking part in the upcoming election is important to ensure a better future for our generations to come. Hopefully, by the end of this report, the readers will be able to put aside their apprehensions regarding the upcoming elections and will be able to realize the potential of a ballot box.

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Message from Chairman NADRA

"Pakistan w as founded on a vote, of mutual that was th consensus e vote of all thos historic str e involved in uggle and that the ultima forefathers te sacrifice . Now it is o f our up to us to alive and p keep this tr ay homage a d ition to their str our right to uggle by e vote. To up xercising hold the s that they anctity of strived for, fr eedom we must u choose w se this fre ho govern e d om to s the futu country." re of our beloved

Tariq Mali k (Chairman NADRA)

04

Message from Chief Election Commissioner

Vote is a trust and it s use is ve want free ry importa and fair go nt if you v e rn a n c e. Voting is empowerm ent of p a display o f eople. If governanc you want e then em good powermen be highligh t of people ted. needs to

(Chief Ele ction

Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim Commissio ner of Pak istan)

05

A Brief History
1962 1970 1977 1988 1990 1993 1997 2002 2008
Before the ince ption of parliam entary form of governance in the according to th country, elections were held e Sy where parliamen stem of Basic Democracy ts members of loca were elected indirectly by l governments. then President He Ayub Khan, Paki ld under the stan Muslim League managed to record an ex by securing 120 ceptional victor y seats.

Presidential Elec tions

1962

By this time, Preside nt ly rejected by politi ial form of government was complet cia eoverwhelming dema ns all over the country and the nd for Parliamentary General Yayha Khan System convinced to Elections were soon make the switch and General announced throug hout the country. Many are of the op ini elections ever to be on that these were one of the faires t held, however, iro nically, the events followed were the that most devastating in our history. With Sheikh Mujibur Re hman of Awami Le ague winning in Ea Pakistan and Zulfiq st ar West resulting in bit Bhutto of Pakistan Peoples Party in ter disparities, in th infamous war betw e midst of which th ee e in separation of Ea n Pakistan and India erupted resulting st and West Pakistan Prime Minister of . Bhutto became th Pakistan in 1971. e

First General Electi ons

1970

ration of after the sepa oples ld he be to Pe First elections om West saw Pakistan ity. PPP fr or East Pakistan by an overwhelming maj l ta to ng a ni in of w t y ou rt ) Pa 115 (77.5% in ns of w tio to ga le ed ever al manag 0 seats. How s resulting 20 de of si r l al be m om nu fr ne-party d pouring in rigging starte st and formation of a ni ocracy, re D un ation of em in a major ent for Restor afterwards em ov M e, allianc up soon a military co -Haq. Zulfiqar Ali resulting in ul aZi al er Gen enforced by nged two years later. ha Bhutto was

1977

06

both from exile of s the return ntest against each es n it w ld Elections wou d Benazir Bhutto to co were overshadowed if an s. Elections Nawaz Shar p of 11 year orst of its kind in this ga a r te af er oth , the w reported from ion violence by pre-elect ber of casualties were arsada, Parachinar, m Ch u country. A n of the country such as e on 27th ts t shock cam different par ur. However, the bigges lly in Liaqat Bagh, ra ja Swat and Ba , when while leaving a ated. Elections had in 07 ss 20 sa r was as on 8th Decembe nazir Bhutto month and took place Be i, d in p al ta Raw e ou er w ab r at fo ats th oned to be postp . Out of a total of 342 se 91 seats went to hile 08 w 20 6 y 12 ar u in L-N br w Fe to n PPP and PM P managed available, PP ion government betwee Asif Ali Zardari d alit PML-N. A co ith Yusuf Raza Gilani an ent respectively. id w es ed Pr d rm was fo ister an e Prime min th g in m co be

2008

Held un d Musharr er the military -g af. Pakis (PML-Q) tan Mu overnment of seats w managed to w slim League Qu General Pervez in h (PPPP) ile Pakistan Pe 118 out of a aid-e-Azam came in total of oples P 3 party le a ader of second with 80 rty Parliamen 42 ta win 18 PML-N a . rians Ja v e dH s t appointeeats. Mir Zafaru that time wh ashmi was th ic e ll h d ah Kh as th mana the firs t Baloch e 13th Prime M an Jamali was ged to in almo inister o to achie s Benazir t a decade and ve this feat. Fo f Pakistan and r B campaig hutto were no a half, both N the first time aw t a part n. of an e az Sharif and lection

2002

By winnin g victory wh 137 seats, PMLN re c il Nawaz Sh e PPP only manag orded a massive ed to win arif was o nce again 18 seats. Prime Min se is of rigging ter however once lected as the a b g unearthed y means of filling e ain allegations x re such as E sulting in interna tra ballots uro ti Nations a pean Union and onal observers Commonw bstaining from labe ealth of as free a ling nd Inter-Parlia fair according to the elections a re mentary U nion (IPU). port by

1997

in return of PPP to Elections resulted Bhutto becoming zir power with Bena man Prime the first Muslim wo egations of all ain Minister. Yet ag d in President corruption resulte sacking her merely an Kh Ghulam Ishaq 20 months later.

1988

Victory for Islamic De mo resulted in Nawaz Sh cratic Alliance (IDA) arifs coming to powe r. PPP boycotted the electi ons Movement (MQM) alo while Mutahida Qaumi ng with Peoples De mocratic Alliance (PDA) were competing IDA. IDA managed to win 105 out of a total of 237 seats. PD A came second with 45, Wh ile MQM was the on ly other party to enter doub le figures by winning 15 seats. Allegations of riggin g continue to be dis cussed in the Supreme Court to this day.

1990

Elections witnessed the retu rn of Benazir Bhutto to power cou rtesy of PPP winning 86 out of a total of 237 seats, while Pakistan Muslim Lea gue Nawaz (PML-N) turned out to be a close runner up by winning 73 seats. Pak istan Muslim League Junejo cam e in third with 6 seats.

1993

07

Pakistan

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Pakistan

otes

Pakistan in International Context Chapter

Chapter 02

02

Pakistan in International Context

As of now, there are 167 countries which can be classified as democratic in nature. In the modern world, Ireland is considered to be the oldest lasting democracy. However, the process of elections to formulate a government has been marred by controversies since long; these controversies are not correlated to any specific region or economic pool of countries. Throughout history, we can see incidents of electoral rigging and political influence to tarnish the democratic process ranging from far-east Asia to Latin America, from Europe to Southern Africa; various countries have been identified to have had a strained system of elections. Controversy being a hallmark associated with the electoral process in Pakistan. This section aims to compare the standing of Pakistan with the rest of the globe. Some of the factors that will help in understanding the culture of electoral process in a region include the voter turnout, number of registered voters according to the population, minimum legal age for inclusion in the voting process and similar other comparisons.

ote Why V ge

40 spend e w ra ebo ok, On ave on Fac y a d s less es a g take minut n i t o v on. age r pers e p on aver s e t u one 0 min than 1 on just s e t u fe for min your li A few t c a p an im day, c ars five ye t x e n the

Why Vote

ot decide If you do n s then other your futur e, will

10

2.1

General Elections (Since 1947)

Since its creation, Pakistan has been struggling to achieve any consistency in terms of holding General Elections at regular intervals. Figure 2.2 shows that the gaps in between elections have either been too large or even too small, in some cases, due to a number of factors. Also, the figure of the total number of elections held since 1947 is alarmingly low particularly when compared to other parts of the world.

Number of General Elections Since 1947

the nated i m i l a e A has on for NADR r egistrati C I of all CN hassle wing o l l a y vote vote b cast a o t s r holde

9
PAKISTAN

15
INDIA

16
UK

16
TURKEY

22
ARGENTINA

25
AUSTRALIA

21
CANADA

16
FRANCE

Figure 2.1 Number of elections since 1947

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Why Vote When you skip voting, its not rebellion, its surrender

Frequencies and Timings of General Elections Since 1947

TURKEY UK INDIA PAKISTAN

Fig 2.2 Comparison: Frequencies and Timings of General Elections Since 1947

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2.2

Women Participation
Pakistan fares better than countries like Brazil, UK and India in terms of gender ratio within the parliament.
Pakistan is the first Muslim country in the world to host a female head of the state; Peoples Party won the elections in 1988 installing Benazir Bhutto as the prime minister of Pakistan. From a global perspective Pakistan is among the top 50% of the countries in terms of representation of women in the parliaments. Table 2.1 shows a list of selected countries along with the percentage that comprises of women within their respective parliaments. It can be seen that Pakistan fares better than countries like Brazil, UK and India in terms of gender ratio within the parliament. A major dynamic behind this is also the fact that majority of the women who make it to the parliament achieve their status through a reserved quota of seats. However, it is interesting to note that all the countries that are mentioned in table 2.1 also have a reserved quota based on gender. This shows that women in Pakistan are an integral part of the political machinery and, if exercised properly, their vote could make a significant change in the paradigm of the countrys governance.
Country
Rwanda Denmark Germany Iraq Pakistan United Kingdom Bangladesh India Brazil Egypt

Seats taken by women 45 of 80 70 of 179 204 of 622 82 of 325 76 of 342 143 of 650 64 of 345 59 of 545 44 of 513 10 of 508

% of women in Parliament 56.30% 39.10% 32.80% 25.20% 22.20% 22% 18.60% 10.80% 8.60% 2%

Table 2.1 - Source: http://www.quotaproject.org/

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2.3

Average Voter Turnout

Pakistan places 164th amongst 169 countries which have had democratic elections within the past 50 years, in terms of voter turnout ratios with total number of registered voters. There are various reasons associated with a low voter turnout which could range from security issues to sociological issues, but the turn out ratio gives an estimate of the involvement of general population within the democratic process.
Rank
1 2 3 33 76 79 120 141 142 143 164 165 168

Country
Australia Singapore Uzbekistan Germany United Kingdom Sri Lanka United States of America India Russia Bangladesh Pakistan Egypt Ivory Coast

Average Turnout % (vote/reg) 94.5 93.5 93.5 85.4 75.2 74.3 66.5
59.4 58.4 58.2 45.3 45.1 37.0

at you ar e r egister ed to vote, and that you kn ow wher e your vote is r egister ed by texting your CNIC number to 8300

Voter s Responsibi lity Ensur e th

bility i s n o p s s Re lace Voter p in

g son, Votin r per e h t o the of an l ss of e l d mina r egar , is a cri ion situat se. of fen

169

Mali

21.3

Table 2.2 - Source: IDEA Voting Turnout

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2.4

Compulsory Voting
Voting in Pakistan has never been a compulsion, a fact that has been a major factor among others for the low voter turnout over the years. Australia is considered among the first countries to adapt the concept of compulsory voting which is why the voter turnout ratio is as high as 94 percent. Belgium is also considered amongst the pioneers of compulsory voting where voting was made obligatory as early as 1892. Argentina, Holland and Venezuela are among others. However the level of enforcement is not as strict as in Australia where a non-voter can be fined and in case of not submitting the fine in due course, the offender may also face imprisonment.
oter non-v a m u lgi chised In Be nfran e s i d in maybe voting t o n ctions upon ur ele o f t s a at le rs 15 yea within

In Peru, a voter is r equir ed to carry a stamped voti ng car d as a pr oof for having voted

nonralia a t s u A d In be fine d l u o c d in voter ing an t o v t o g for n mittin not sub f o l a e s ca ay so der m n e f f o the ment. prison m i e c a f

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2.5

Minimum Voter Age

Know Your Rights! A voter has the right to a secret ballot, whereby no one may look at or ask to see any other voters ballot
Minimum voter age also plays a vital role in recognizing the dynamics of democracy, the lowest minimum voting age in the world is 16 years which is set in 6 countries. However average minimum voting age in the world is 18, which is practiced in 199 countries throughout the planet. Pakistan also falls into this huge bracket of countries that allow people older than 18 years of age to vote for the decision of the countrys future governance. Second most common minimum voting age is 21 years which is set in 13 countries; this is also the highest minimum voting age set anywhere in the world. Along with the minimum voting age, another factor that decides the voting turnout is the number of adult population (i.e. population above the minimum voting age) that has registered for a vote. In Pakistan, till the last elections, voting population was 87% of the total population, which was very less compared to its immediate neighbor, India, which had about 97.1% of adult population registered for a vote. However, this has changed now since Pakistan allows ALL members of adult populations holding a national identity card to vote, thus increasing this percentage to above 96%.

16 17 18 19 20 21

Figure 2.3 - Minimum voter age globally

16

Know Your Rights! Each voter has the right to choose his or her favorite candidate, without any external inuence or pressure.

Country

Last elections

Turnout in the last elections (%)

93.2 85.2 36.5 62.0 70.7 58.2 32.2 44.5 60.1 93.1 61.3 65.8 41.6

Registration

Voting age population

16,208,479 87,634,867 11,401,580 53,245,955 68,114,735 738,773,666 5,178,362 91,856,744 113,276,186 3,891,370 14,799,473 49,116,522 240,926,957

Australia Bangladesh Ivory Coast Egypt Germany India Mali Pakistan Russia Singapore Sri Lanka UK United States

2010 2008 2011 2012 2009 2009 2007 2008 2011 2011 2010 2010 2010

14,086,869 81,130,973 5,664,377 47,192,169 62,168,489 716,985,101 6,267,363 79,934,801 109,237,780 2,211,102 14,088,500 45,597,461 218,054,301

Uzbekistan
Table 2.3 Source: IDEA

2010

87.8

17,215,700

18,374,902

% of adult population registered for vote 86.9 92.6 49.7 88.6 91.3 97.1 121.0 87.0 96.4 56.8 95.2 92.8 90.5 93.7

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Pakistan

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Pakistan

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Electoral Roll
Chapter 03

3.1

What is an Electoral Roll

Eligibility Only citizens registered on the Electoral Rolls are eligible to cast their votes.
An electoral roll is a list of people within an area who are registered to cast a vote in the next upcoming elections. The rolls are a general practice in any country that observes elections on a regular basis, and these are also used for national identification and other social security purposes. Some countries also use these electoral rolls to select people for jury duty since the public is already sorted according to the region they reside in.

s! Right ht r u o Y rig Know as the

20

oter h Each v or her hout se his te, wit to cho o a d i d e can nce favorit influe l a n r e t any ex ssur e. e r or p

3.2

Electoral Roll in Pakistan

17.5 million people have been registered within the age bracket of 18 to 25 years.
In Pakistan, for many years, the electoral rolls were generated on hand written registers which were then tedious to verify thus leading to many errors. Recently, Pakistan has adopted a newer method of generating computerized electoral rolls, which are based on modern bio-metric systems and are easier to verify. Almost 17.5 million people have been registered within the age bracket of 18 to 25 years. Most of these people have not exercised their right to vote before, and were not registered within the electoral rolls in the last elections.

Age group 18-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66 and above Total

Number of registered voters 17.5 million 24.2 million 17.2 million 12 million 8.4 million 6.7 million 86.1 million

Fraction of total voters (%) 20.35 28.10 19.99 13.94 9.81 7.81 100.00

Table 3.1: Age-wise distribution of Pakistanis registered in the Final Electoral Rolls 2013 - Source: NDWH NADRA

21

37 million unveried votes represented almost half of the total electoral rolls of 2008.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) with the help of National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) finalized and published the Final Electoral Rolls (FER) 2012, enlisting a total of 86.2 million voters on 31st July, 2012. Table 3.1 shows the age-wise distribution of all the voting age population that has been enlisted in the Final Electoral Rolls of 2012. The FER is a list containing names of all those, who are
Province Balochistan FATA Federal Area Khyber Pakhtun Khwa Punjab Sindh Total Men 1,915,318 1,142,234 337,907 7,008,538 27,697,703 10,491,837 48,593,537

registered as voters under the Electoral Rolls Act 1974 as eligible voters (18 years & above in age) and hold Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) issued by NADRA in a particular area. The new FERs have been sent to ECP offices at district level to facilitate further changes like registration of new voters who attain the age of 18 years and correction of particulars of voters.

Women 1,421,341 596,079 288,057 5,257,624 21,561,634 8,471,479 37,596,214

Total 3,336,659 1,738,313 625,964 12,266,162 49,259,337 18,963,316 86,189,751

* There are approximately 687 Eunuchs(Khawaja Sira) in Pakistan Table 3.2: Region wise distribution of voters Source: NDWH NADRA

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In Pakistan, the updating of the Electoral Rolls (ER) is a regular and continuous process. However, law requires temporarily stopping the process once the general elections are announced. The current electoral rolls of Pakistan will stop being updated 60 days before the election, and will resume once elections have been held. Likewise, if any constituency is called upon to elect its representative even in bye-elections, no amendments can be made to the electoral rolls till after the elections. At all other times when an election schedule has not been announced the addition/amendment to the ER continues as per rules. This ensures that no last minute changes to the data can hinder the process of elections and create a bias in the outcome. Also, necessary arrangements need to be made according the registered voters in each region, and thus require a full and final list at least 2 months before the date of the elections. In order to make the process transparent, access to the electoral rolls has been given to the general public. Any person can get a copy of electoral roll or an extract from

the electoral roll from the Registration Officer concerned on payment of Rupees ten per page paid in the form of Court Fee stamps.

Ensur e your ballot paper has not been marked before

Voter s Responsibility

23

3.2

Issues: Electoral Rolls 2002, 2007

30.7 Million: Heads of families were digitized using household census forms
An accurate electoral roll is the first step towards ensuring a transparent election process. However mistakes are bound to happen due to a number of reasons. Factors such as the amount of population living in remote areas and reliance on manual procedures can often stand in the way of achieving accuracy. A number of issues popped up in 2002 mainly because no door-to-door verification was carried out back then. Also during that time the minimum age required to be eligible to vote was also reduced from 21 to 18 years which resulted in approximately 5.5 million new voters. Before 2002, both manual and Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) were in circulation resulting in further discrepancies. Physical verification of particulars of voters was difficult since names of voters being scattered throughout the electoral areas instead of being in sequence of households, gali, mohallah etc. The final electoral rolls of 2007-08 were prepared without any help of NADRA. The voters list was marred with duplicate/multiple entries, inclusion and exclusion errors and voters without any identity. Approximately 52 million voters were registered in the year 2007, 20 million less than those recorded in 2002 (72 million). According to All Pakistan Minority Alliance around 20% of non-Muslims that were registered in 2002 were absent from the rolls in 2007. Names of thousands of dead personnel were present in the 2008 lists and the numbers were high this time around as well. Names of as many as 22,000 dead personal in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) alone were present in the lists. A sharp decline was recorded in women registration as well in comparison to the 2002 electoral rolls when women voters shrunk to 30% of the total number of voters in 2007 from 40% in 2002. Once NADRA achieved more than 90% registration of the Pakistani population, a landmark legislation was passed according to which, in order to be eligible to vote, every individual must possess a Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC). Once NADRA took control of the production of national electoral rolls for the 2013 elections, previous electoral rolls were compared with the national database. Over 37 million voters were identified as unverified from the preceding electoral rolls, while around 45 percent of the total of 82 million voters was deemed as dubious. This figure contains around 2.5 million duplicate entries, 1.2 million fake entries and a number of dead personnel.

s y Voter sibilit p s Re on y instance

t an o Repor lead t t h g i m ling which he pol t t a ng riggi . n statio

24

3.4

Preparation of Electoral Rolls 2012

84 Million: Total number of voters registered in the current electoral rolls.
A number of profound steps were taken for the preparation of electoral rolls in 2012 in order to improve accuracy and ensure transparency for the upcoming elections. NADRA and ECP have been working closely together while benefiting from each others relevant strengths and expertise to avoid all sorts of discrepancies that were found in the previous voters lists. NADRA currently holds one of the worlds largest Citizen Biometric Database which ECP used as a baseline in order to carry out door-todoor verification. Previously electoral rolls were prepared only through door-to-door enumeration and there was an absence of any authentic data to back the process up. The process was divided into three modules. Data of approximately 81.2 million compiled during preparation of previous electoral rolls was transferred to NADRA for verification by ECP. All such records which were not backed with a CNIC were removed, since CNIC was declared to be a pre-requisite for registration as a voter. As a consequence of this, 37 million unverified voters that were identified in the previous voters list were sorted out and all duplicate and fake entries were removed. Similar was the case with many deceased personal which made it to the previous lists.

Phase I: Initially, household census forms containing over

30.7 million heads of families were digitized. In order to ensure accuracy of the typed data, each form was typed twice at two different, random locations in the country. Unless there was a one-to-one match of every character in every field, the data was not transferred. In the end, two copies of the draft electoral rolls were handed over to the ECP for door-to-door verification and enumeration.

Phase II: ECP presented these lists for soliciting objections

and modifications and handed over the forms to NADRA to execute phase two of the preparation of the rolls. NADRA shut down most of its regular centers and designated special sections in all headquarters for data-entry of the forms. 4,500 employees worked 24 hours a day without any holiday to prepare the preliminary electoral rolls.

Phase III: A virtual verification service was developed whereby any citizen could verify their vote by texting their CNIC number to 8300. After the display period was exhausted and objections were received, the last phase was executed to prepare the final electoral rolls.

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Preparation of Computerized Electoral Rolls

HOUSEHOLD CENSUS (2.2 MILLION FORMS) April, 2011

LEGACY DATA ELECTORAL ROLLS (80.5 Million Voters)

SCANNING DATA ENTRY

0 611

1-2

E NAMy z x 7 09-

092

New CNIC (3.6 Mil)

DOOR TO DOOR VERIFICATION

SCANNING DATA ENTRY

8300 SMS Service 7.1 Million Hits OBJECTIONS & MODIFICATIONS (4 MILLION FORMS) APR, 2012
SCANNING DATA ENTRY

CNIC DATABASE (80 MILLION+)

Figure 3.1

PRODUCTION FACILITY

DRAFT ELECTORAL ROLLS (80.1 MILLION VOTERS) JULY, 2011

2 COPIES 6 MILLION PAGES

PRELIMINARY ELECTORAL ROLLS (80.4 MILLION VOTERS) 10 FEB, 2012

3 COPIES 7 MILLION PAGES

FINAL ELECTORAL ROLLS (FER) 31st July, 2012

22nd March, 2013

SECTION

18

3 COPIES 16.2 MILLION PAGES

3.5

Improvements
Virtual Verication of Voters
16.2 million: The number of people who have veried their votes by texting their CNIC number to 8300.
ECP in collaboration with NADRA introduced a unique Short Messaging Service through which all registered voters were able to send their CNIC number without hyphens to 8300 from anywhere in the country. Upon doing so the sender would receive a message in Urdu containing their name, location of electoral area and the serial number of vote registered in the electoral rolls. CNIC Previously, the only method of checking ones vote NUMBER was to personally visit a center where the election lists 61101-2092509-7 were being displayed.
61101-2092509-7

8300

SENDING

VOTER RECIEVE SMS WITHIN SECONDS

Virtual Vote Verification Process

NAME ELECTORAL AREA SERIAL NUMBER

voter
Figure 3.2 Voter Verification Process

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Registration of Eunuchs
687: The number of Eunuchs registered with the ECP
Another initiative taken recently in order to enhance registration and to include maximum number of citizens in the voter bracket was the issuance of CNICs to Eunuchs which automatically made them eligible to vote for the upcoming elections. This step was the first of its kind in the countrys history because of which this particular segment of the population was given the right of being identified as citizens of the state, something that they were previously denied. Under the new instructions, third genders could have male transgender, female transgender or Khunsa-e-Mushkil written on their CNIC according to their own will. Other than issuing identification documents at various registration centers across the nation, special Mobile Registration Vans (MRVs) were also deployed to facilitate registration of eunuchs in far flung and remote areas. Previously Eunuchs were unable to cast votes because of the fact that they were not officially recognized as members of the state. Moreover NADRA has also been providing job opportunities to the third gender at its regional offices in order to engage them as productive citizens of the society. This step was taken not only to set an example for other organizations but also to help in registration of other eunuchs.

s Voter

29

e insid e t o v do our Put y rself, u o y the x bo af f at t s ballot for y do it sk an o a t t o n tion g sta pollin you.

bility i s n o Resp the

Voters Picture on Electoral Rolls

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) with the assistance of NADRA, for the first time in countrys history managed to include pictures of each and every voter on all computerized electoral rolls. This step was taken in light of criticism raised by a number of political parties and civil society organizations regarding various discrepancies in electoral rolls due to fake, multiple or duplicate entries.

ote Why V u skip

, voting o y s When ion, it r ebell t o n its der surr en

30

Increase in Women Voters

Between 2008 and 2012, the number of women registered with NADRA increased from 50% to 86% of the adult female population.
Women registration has been in the ascendency since 2008 with the number of registered women voters reaching 36,950,712 by 2012. Women registration has almost doubled during the last four years, with a sharp increase in overall percentage of registered woman to 86% in 2012 from 50% in 2008. NADRA has been reaching out to NGOs and other Government departments to encourage female registration and has designated Friday as a womens-only registration day in all centers. The percentage of total number of female voters when compared to male voters has witnessed a sharp increase since 2007. Currently this percentage stands at 77 percent, while in 2002 and 2007 it was 40 and 30 percent respectively. KhyberPakhtunkhwa typically suffers the most in terms of female registration and in 2007 KPK recorded the highest number of unregistered female voters and a percentage decrease in number of registered females of 45% was recorded from 2002 to 2007. However the current electoral rolls show that in terms of total number of female voters registered, KPK stands at number three, only behind the two most populated regions of the country i.e. Punjab and Sindh. The total number of registered female voters currently stands at 5,191,887 with bulk of them that are registered coming from the rural areas (4,202,954). Following figure shows the number of women registered for every one hundred men by NADRA before and after 2009.

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Figure 3.3 Number of women registered for every 100 men

Area-WiseBreakdown: Female Voters

Pakistan fares better than countries like Brazil, UK and India in terms of gender ratio within the parliament.
25,000,000 20,000,000 15,000,000 10,000,000 5,000,000 0

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Series1

Balochistan

FATA

Federal Area

Punjab

Sindh

5,191,887

1,404,214

489,433

281,193

21,202,308

8,300,719

Figure 3.4 Area-wise breakdown: Female Voters (Source: National Data Warehouse NADRA)

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Rural/Urban breakdown of Female Voters

0% 0% 1% 36% 11% 21%

Punjab Rural Punjab Urban Sindh Rural Sindh Urban Khyber Pakhtun Khwa Rural Khyber Pakhtun Khwa Urban Balochistan Rural Balochistan Urban FATA Rural FATA Urban

1% 11% 12% 3% 2% 2%

not vot ing, y also vot ou ar e ing.. F o r the party that yo u do n support ot !

Why V ote By

Figure 3.5 (Source: NDWH NADRA)

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Increase in Non-Muslim Voters

214,000: The total number of nonMuslim voters in Tharparkar out of a total population of 464,000.
During preparation of Electoral Rolls 2007, objections were often raised regarding the total number voters prescribing to Religions other than Islam. However non-Muslim registration has been on the increase since then. The impact of non-Muslim voters cannot be overlooked by any 47,356 5,872 political party particularly in areas such as Umer Kot where 115,095 more than 177 thousands voters belong to religions other than Islam. Similarly in Tharparkar out of a total of more Hindu than 464 thousand voters, non-Muslim voters represent more than 214 thousand. Among major cities, Gujranwala Christian hosts more than 87 thousand voters. NADRA has been Qadiani working closely with leaders of various non-Muslim faiths, 1,379,218 asking them to persuade their communities to obtain Other 1,223,832 identity cards. Furthermore to facilitate the registration Sikh process Mobile Registration Vans (MRVs) are also being used to complete the registration process in far flung areas. As a consequence, numbers are on the increase and to date more than 2.7 million non-Muslims now possess a CNIC and hence are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections. Figure 3.6 Minority voter ratios (Source: NDWH NADRA)

Minority Voter Ratios

Minoritie s Vote may decide fate of 96 constituenci es

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2.2

District-Wise Ratio of Non-Muslim Voters

District-Wise Percentage of Non-Muslim Voters
60 % 50 % 40 % 30 % 20 % 10 % 0% UMER KOT %age of Non-Muslim Voters % 48.30 TANDO THARPAR MIRPUR ALLAHYA KAR KHAS R 46.05 32.36 25.74 TANDO SANGHA MUHAM MATIARI MAD R KHAN 18.74 17.03 12.84

e Why Vot

BADIN 19.03

utes few min a g n i c i Sacrif years for ry five ve e e c on much y can be r t n ou c the than staking r less pain life as ou ng your i c i f i r c sa rs did. for efathe

Figure 3.7 %age of Non-Muslim Voters From Total Number of Voters District Wise (Source: NDWH NADRA)

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Pakistan

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Pakistan

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Voter Demographics in Pakistan Chapter

Chapter 04

04

Voter Demographics in Pakistan

Why Vote Because otherwise you loose the right to complain
Voting in Pakistan has been scarce. Due to long periods of martial laws, Pakistan has been unable to conduct as many elections as its immediate neighbor to the east, India. And even during the elections that did take place, the voter turnout has been relatively low. As mentioned in chapter 2, Pakistan is one to bottom five countries in the list of all democratic countries in terms of voter turnout. Figure 4. 1 shows the trend of voting turnout since 1977 elections. As it can be seen, the trend was constantly decreasing till 1997, after which this has been rising. Numerous reasons could explain the sudden rise in the voter turnout after 1997. Freedom of Media Ordinance passed in 2002, has led to an increase in the political awareness of general population. However, other factors could include the lowering of the minimum voting age and foreign policies of the country since the initiation of the War on Terror.

Voter Turnout in General Elections

60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% 1977 1985 1988 1990 1993 1997 2002 2008 55.02% 52.93% 43.07% 45.46% 40.28% 41.80% 44.55%

35.17%

Figure 4.1 - Voter Turnout in Pakistan since 1977

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Almost half of the National Assembly of Pakistan could be formulated due to youth vote.

It is expected that the voter turnout in 2013 elections will be much higher than the 2002 and 2008 elections because of a number new policies governing the electoral roles. NADRA has helped in providing majority of the voting age population, a voting right, by allowing anyone with a valid CNIC to participate in the electoral process. This means that the number of registered voters this year is going to be a record high. This also comes along with other facilitations provided by NADRA and ECP, which has streamlined the voting procedure and made it easier for people to vote, hence churning a higher voter turnout. An important factor in expecting a higher voter turnout in the 2013 general elections in Pakistan is also the politically aware youth. Youth being identified as anyone within the age bracket of 18 to 35. According the Final Electoral Roll published in July 2012, 40.1 million citizens belong to this age bracket, which comprises of almost half of the total number of registered voters. Figure 4.2 shows the comparison between registered voters in the youth brackets with those who are older than 35 years of age.

This shows the power that the youth will have in the upcoming elections.

Youth voters vs. Elder voters

Figure 4.2 - Youth voters vs. Elder voters (Source: NDWH NADRA)

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Approximately 43 out of a total of 99 seats of KPK Assembly will be determined by female vote

Figure 4.3 displays the distribution of all the registered voters according to age brackets. This displays the demographics of the voters in the upcoming elections. And emphases the important role that the age brackets of 18-25 and 26-35 will play in the upcoming elections in Pakistan. Apart from age brackets, gender ratios are also important in the decision of governance in any country. As mentioned earlier, Pakistan is amongst the top 50 countries according to the participation of women in the parliament. Among the registered voters in the electoral rolls of 2012, female voters comprised of 43% of the electoral rolls. However, sociological reason and lack of information for women is often the cause for their lack of registration for a vote. In rural areas of Pakistan, many women do not get their CNICs made because they are unable to leave their house without a male guardian and hence do not consider it necessary enough to register themselves in the national database.

Gender Ratios of Voters VS Actual Population

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 57% 43% 51% 49%

Voters Male

Actual Population Female

Figure 4.3 - Gender ratios- Voters VS All population (Source: NDWH NADRA

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Agewise Distribution of Voters

8% 10% 14% 29% 20% 18-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-65 66 and above

19%

Figure 4.4 - Age-wise distribution of voters (Source: NDWH NADRA)

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Gender Ratios of Voters in Each Province

Males 58% 67% 42% 33% 54% 46% Females 57% 43% 57% 43% 55% 45%

Khyber Pakhtun Khwa Figure 4.5 - Gender ratios of voters in each province (Source: NDWH NADRA)
Figure 4.5 shows the gender ratio of the voters in each province in Pakistan. Highest gap in the ratios can be seen in FATA. Ratios in the rest of the country are almost similar, with the least difference being seen in the Federal

Balochistan

FATA

Federal Area

Punjab

Sindh

e Why Vot

have YOU must se u a c e B that in issues y sa R YOU OU af fect Y

Area. These demographics show the importance of vote of women in the upcoming elections.

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Gender Ratio of Young Voters in each Province

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Balochistan Male Female FATA Federal Area Khyber Pakhtun Khwa Punjab Sindh

Figure 4.6 Gender ratio of young voters in each province (Source: NDWH NADRA)

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Young Voter Geographic Breakdown

Since youth has been identified as one of the key players in the upcoming elections, it is imperative to understand where all these votes are coming from. Figure 6 outlines the gender breakdown of the young population according to each province, showing similar gender ratio trends throughout the country except for FATA. However, Figure 4.7 highlights that amongst the young voters about 56% of the population is located only within the province of Punjab. This in turn also shows Balochistan that demographically, Punjab will be a key center to target FATA for youth votes. Sindh and KPK formulate 22% and 15% Federal Area respectively.

4% 2% 22%

1%

15%

Khyber Pakhtun Khwa Punjab Sindh

56%
Figure 4.7 Young voter geographic breakdown (Source: NDWH NADRA)

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Urban/Rural Voters Gender Breakdown

35,000,000 30,000,000 25,000,000 20,000,000 15,000,000 10,000,000 5,000,000 Male Female

ess than 50% of people i Pakistan n ar e abov e t age. M h e vo t ing eaning, when you you ar e vote, not onl y voting your tom f or orr ow b ut also f your fut or ur e gen eration s.

Why Vot e L

0 Rural Urban

Figure 4.8 Urban/Rural voters Gender breakdown (Source: NDWH NADRA)

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Rural/Urban Breakdown
Rural 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Balochistan FATA Federal Area Khyber Pakhtun Khwa Punjab Sindh Urban

Figure 4.9 Rural/Urban breakdown (Source: NDWH NADRA) In Pakistan one of the main driving force behind party manifestoes for elections is the need to cater the demand of different segments of the society. Figure 4.9 shows the ratios of the population that reside in Rural and Urban area within each province. It can be clearly seen that FATA and KPK hold large rural populace; however Sindh and Punjab relatively have a higher ratio of urban population. Similarly, it can be seen in Figure 4.8 that the rural population comprises of more men, then the urban population. The gender ratio is higher in the rural areas of Pakistan according for voter population.

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Figure 4.10 shows that majority of the population of Pakistan resides within their permanent place of residence. This shows that they are much more likely to be familiar with their surroundings and political history of the area
90,000,000 80,000,000 70,000,000 60,000,000 50,000,000 40,000,000 30,000,000 20,000,000 10,000,000 0 Voters count

they reside in. Data shows that roughly 10% of Pakistani voters reside in an address that is different from their permanent address.

Same Current and Permanent Address Dierent Current and Permanent Address

Figure 4.10 Permanent/Temporary address comparison (Source: NDWH NADRA)

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Conclusion

Conclusion
Lack of transparency, rigging, bogus votes, and low voter turnout are some of the slogans that are often heard during and after almost every election season. While it is easy to point out all such blemishes, little has been during our history to plug these leaks. After every election season, we are left with a bitter taste of these issues which seems to have formed strong roots within the system. This has led to a large sum of population being dismayed by the electoral process. At the same time, these factors account for hindrances on the road to achieving a stable democratic structure in Pakistan. The upcoming General Elections are going to be monumental and a milestone in the history of the nation. Pakistans introduction of a completely automated system ensures elimination of a number of frauds that were experienced previously. As outlined earlier in the report, steps such as these will bear fruit for the nation not only for the coming months but also in the long run. NADRA and ECP have joined hands to eliminate all sorts of discrepancies within electoral rolls and have been able to implement a number of mechanisms to help minimize rigging by a great extent. These tireless efforts are being carried out to provide the nation with a completely fair voting system, which will be a true reflection of the nations desires. This, however, also relies heavily on the will of the public to participate in the democratic process by realizing the importance of its right to vote.

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Pakistan

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References

References
ECP (2013), Comparison between FER-2007 and DER-2011 Electoral Rolls, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ECP (2008), Report: General Elections 2008 Volume 2, Election Commission of Pakistan Elections 2013 (2013), Election Statistics of Pakistan, Pakistan Elections NCSW (2008), Institutional Review of NCSW Support to Implementation of GRAPs: Gender Review of Political Framework for Women Political Participation, National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), Islamabad National Data Ware House (NDWH), National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad. PILDAT (2010), Citizen Group on Electoral Process: State of Electoral Rolls in Pakistan, Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) Pintor R. and Gratschew M. (2002), Voter Turnout since 1945, A Global Report, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) PRR-HEC, the First General Elections in Pakistan, Pakistan Research Repository - Higher Education Commission, Pakistan

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Just like every life counts, every vote counts as well, so in order to be counted, make sure you vote. Vote for your future! Tariq Malik (Chairman NADRA)