The US State Department said on Tuesday 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 Pak 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 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," said Boucher.
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 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 spectre of "massive disenfranchisement." The Pak media continued to operate under a 'code of conduct' that criminalised criticism of President Pervez Musharraf's government, he said.
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