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UNDP refutes Imran’s claim
No computers shut down, no one evicted on polling night, says chief
Waseem Abbasi
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
From Print Edition
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday contradicted PTI chief Imran Khan’s allegations of interruption in its election project on May 11, 2013 polling day, saying that none of its consultants were ejected from the offices of the returning officers.
Country Director UNDP Marc-Andre Franche also insisted that none of its computers was shut down after the victory speech of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, as alleged by Imran Khan on May 11.
Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had also denied Imran’s claim that a UNDP election result gathering project was halted after Nawaz Sharif’s speech.“On May 11, 2013 (election day), six UNDP consultants provided technical assistance to returning officers in relation to the new computerised result management system. None of the consultants reported being ejected from the offices of returning officers or witnessing their computers being shut down,” Marc-Andre Franche said while replying to the queries sent by The News.
Speaking at a public rally in Bahawalpur on Friday, Imran Khan had said that soon after the “victory speech” of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, the data operators stopped sending computerised result copies to the ECP. PTI chief had claimed that the operators were told by the returning officers to slow down, and later handwritten results were sent to the ECP to manipulate results and cause the defeat of PTI candidates.
The UNDP country director said the election project titled “Electoral Cycle Support to the Election Commission of Pakistan” supported ECP in holding transparent elections. He said UNDP provided similar technical assistance to election management bodies in over 60 countries.
“Through UNDP support, over 330,000 presiding officers and assistant presiding officers were trained on basic polling procedures, 222 Election Commission of Pakistan district officers were trained to conduct and coordinate district wise voter education campaigns to encourage vulnerable groups including rural women, minorities and people with disabilities to cast their votes,” Marc-Andre Franche said.
He added that 600,000 Tamper Evident Bags were introduced for the first time in Pakistan to safeguard result sheets during their transportation from polling stations to the offices of the returning officer and 1,148 government officials from the districts were trained on the new result management system.
He said the aim of the project was to support the ECP to prepare and conduct the general elections. The support focused on working with the ECP to develop and implement a comprehensive voter education campaign to improve voter turnout, especially among women, youth and other marginalised communities.
UNDP also provided technical assistance to the ECP to develop a computerised election results management system.Earlier, talking to The News, a senior official of the ECP who was involved in the data gathering process claimed that the UNDP project had nothing to do with the announcement of election results as it was an exercise aimed at data gathering for analysis and future reference.According to the officials, ECP still has scanned result of each and every polling station of the country from all 849 constituencies.
UNDP refutes Imran’s claim - thenews.com.pk
No computers shut down, no one evicted on polling night, says chief
Waseem Abbasi
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
From Print Edition
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday contradicted PTI chief Imran Khan’s allegations of interruption in its election project on May 11, 2013 polling day, saying that none of its consultants were ejected from the offices of the returning officers.
Country Director UNDP Marc-Andre Franche also insisted that none of its computers was shut down after the victory speech of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, as alleged by Imran Khan on May 11.
Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had also denied Imran’s claim that a UNDP election result gathering project was halted after Nawaz Sharif’s speech.“On May 11, 2013 (election day), six UNDP consultants provided technical assistance to returning officers in relation to the new computerised result management system. None of the consultants reported being ejected from the offices of returning officers or witnessing their computers being shut down,” Marc-Andre Franche said while replying to the queries sent by The News.
Speaking at a public rally in Bahawalpur on Friday, Imran Khan had said that soon after the “victory speech” of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, the data operators stopped sending computerised result copies to the ECP. PTI chief had claimed that the operators were told by the returning officers to slow down, and later handwritten results were sent to the ECP to manipulate results and cause the defeat of PTI candidates.
The UNDP country director said the election project titled “Electoral Cycle Support to the Election Commission of Pakistan” supported ECP in holding transparent elections. He said UNDP provided similar technical assistance to election management bodies in over 60 countries.
“Through UNDP support, over 330,000 presiding officers and assistant presiding officers were trained on basic polling procedures, 222 Election Commission of Pakistan district officers were trained to conduct and coordinate district wise voter education campaigns to encourage vulnerable groups including rural women, minorities and people with disabilities to cast their votes,” Marc-Andre Franche said.
He added that 600,000 Tamper Evident Bags were introduced for the first time in Pakistan to safeguard result sheets during their transportation from polling stations to the offices of the returning officer and 1,148 government officials from the districts were trained on the new result management system.
He said the aim of the project was to support the ECP to prepare and conduct the general elections. The support focused on working with the ECP to develop and implement a comprehensive voter education campaign to improve voter turnout, especially among women, youth and other marginalised communities.
UNDP also provided technical assistance to the ECP to develop a computerised election results management system.Earlier, talking to The News, a senior official of the ECP who was involved in the data gathering process claimed that the UNDP project had nothing to do with the announcement of election results as it was an exercise aimed at data gathering for analysis and future reference.According to the officials, ECP still has scanned result of each and every polling station of the country from all 849 constituencies.
UNDP refutes Imran’s claim - thenews.com.pk
