Participation of citizens in the political process, particularly in the electoral process, is at the heart of every democracy. To want to participate, however, citizens must have confidence in the institution entrusted with managing the electoral process. In Pakistan, this institution is the Election Commission of Pakistan, which undertakes strategic planning every five years to enhance its capabilities and performance. The ECP’s 3rd Strategic Plan (2019-2023) encompassed extensive reforms, ranging from training improvements and infrastructure development to promoting gender parity. This report provides PILDAT’s analysis, from a citizen’s perspective, of the extent to which the ECP was successful in implementing its 3rd 5-year Strategic Plan.
PILDAT’s report is based primarily on data provided by the ECP as well as on publicly available information, such as the annual reports of the ECP. Although a preliminary version of this report was published in January 2024 and shared with the ECP on February 1, 2024, PILDAT intended to publish an updated version that would have included the ECP’s final progress reports on the Strategic Plan. However, despite persistent efforts including telephonic and email exchanges, PILDAT has been unable to secure either a meeting with the ECP for this purpose or obtain ECP’s final progress report of the Plan. PILDAT shared a final draft of its report with the ECP on July 1, 2024 but did not receive a response. Thus, this report reflects the last update that was shared by the ECP with PILDAT in September 2023.
We wish to thank the Chief Election Commissioner and the ECP staff for providing the initial data on the strategic plan’s implementation. Unfortunately, our subsequent requests for further updates were repeatedly ignored, which hampered the transparency necessary for effective monitoring of progress. We wish to emphasize that the real benefits of a Strategic Plan cannot accrue unless transparency about the progress is ensured by sharing progress annually, if not more frequently.
This report has been authored by Ms. Alena Sadiq, Projects Officer, under the overall direction and supervision of Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President, who also reviewed the report.