The Election Commission office in Attock is in a run-down building on the outskirts of the town. Several dusty computers sit on tables, none of them switched on, and the office has no internet connection, said caretaker Ghulam Rafiq, the only person present there on Monday morning.
"No one's here," said he, when a Reuters reporter stopped by. Transparent plastic ballot boxes were stacked up, with piles of election manuals in the boxes. When asked about the district's main election officer, Rafiq said: "He comes very rarely," and added: "He's a man of his own will." The opposition parties are pinning hopes for free and fair parliamentary elections on January 8 on Election Commission offices like the one in Attock.
But, in this town on the Indus river in Punjab, opposition politicians said, the commission was ignoring complaints of unfair electioneering by candidates who support President Pervez Musharraf. "The Election Commission seems to be totally paralysed," said Amin Aslam, a former environment minister running as independent candidate. "We are providing them information with proof," he said of his complaints about unfair electioneering by his opponents.
"There's no doubt there's a plan to support certain politicians and parties." Three members of a powerful political family that supports Musharraf are contesting in Attock's three constituencies.
'OPEN SECRET' The father of one of the candidates is the district government chief who is meant to be impartial, but on Monday he was seen asking voters to support the three. His photograph appears on his daughter's election posters. "Voters are being openly threatened and they are changing their loyalties, but the Election Commission is paying no attention. They are part of this rigging plan," said Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, a candidate for PML-N.
But Attock's assistant election commissioner, Mazhar Hussain, tracked down at a town court, said that his office had not got any complaints in writing; so there was nothing he could do.
"There's no question of taking action against anybody." Attock's chief Election Commission official, district returning officer Tariq Abbasi, said his office could do much more if it had the resources and workers. "We can't assign people to keep an eye on each candidate. We act on complaints from individuals or groups but so far we haven't got any complaints from voters," Abbasi said.
A member of an election watchdog group said the district government was backing the pro-Musharraf candidates. "It's now an open secret that government machinery is involved ... Police are harassing and intimidating voters to vote in favour of the king's party," said the worker for the Free and Fair Election Network. However, he declined to be identified.