Election Commission of Pakistan Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates

1.

The political parties and candidates shall not propagate any opinion, or act in any manner prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan, or the sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan, or morality, or the maintenance of public order, or the integrity or independence of the judiciary of Pakistan, or which defames or brings into ridicule the judiciary or the Armed Forces of Pakistan, as provided under Article 63 of the Constitution.

2.

The parties and candidates shall abide by all the laws, rules, regulations and directions issued by the Commission, from time to time, relating to smooth conduct of elections and the maintenance of public order.

3.

The political parties and candidates shall at all times uphold the rights and freedom of the people of Pakistan as guaranteed by the Constitution and law.

4.

All political parties, candidates and their supporters shall avoid scrupulously all activities which are offences under the election laws, such as bribing of voters, intimidation and personation, canvassing within 400 yards of a polling station, including setting up of camps, and holding public meetings during the period of 48 hours ending at midnight following the conclusion of the poll for an election in the constituency, etc.1

5.

Incitement to violence or resort to violence during meetings, processions, or during polling hours shall be strictly avoided by political parties, contesting candidates and their supporters. They

Sections 79, 80, 84 & 85 of the Representation of the People Act, 1976.

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shall publicly condemn violence and intimidation and not use language that might lead to violence or resort to violence during meetings, processions, or during polling hours. No person shall in any manner cause injury to any person or damage to any property.2

6.

Political parties, contesting candidates and their supporters shall not procure the support or assistance of any civil servant to promote or hinder the election of a contesting candidate.3

7.

Political parties and contesting candidates shall dissuade their workers or sympathizers from destroying any ballot paper or any official mark on the ballot paper.4

8.

No person or political party or a contesting candidate and their supporters shall hoist or fix party flags on any public property or at any public place, except with the permission in writing from, and on payment of such fee or charges as may be chargeable by the concerned local government or authorities.5

9.

Wall chalking as part of an election campaign shall be prohibited in all forms.6

No person or a political party shall affix posters, hoardings or banners larger than the sizes prescribed by the Election Commission. The Commission has prescribed the sizes as under:7

2 3

Section 81 of the Representation of the People Act, 1976]. Section 83 of the Representation of the People Act, 1976]. 4 Section 87 of the Representation of the People Act, 1976]. 5 Section 83A of the Representation of the People Act, 1976] 6 Section 83A of the Representation of the People Act, 1976]. 7 Section 83A of the Representation of the People Act, 1976].

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(a) Posters

2-feet x 3-feet-

(b) Hoardings3-feet x 5-feet (c) Banners 3-feet x 9-feet The Head of district administration and the District Returning Officer shall be responsible for the effective implementation of this provision.
10.

The political parties, contesting candidates and their supporters shall not indulge in offering gifts or gratifications or inducement to any person to stand or not to stand as a candidate, or to withdraw or not to withdraw his candidature.8

11.

Political parties, contesting candidates and their supporters may announce their overall development programme, but after the announcement of the election schedule till the day of polling, no candidate or any person on his behalf shall openly or in secret, give any subscription or donation, or make promise for giving such subscription or donation, to any institution of their respective constituency or to any other institution, nor shall commit to undertake any development project in the respective constituency.9

12.

The political parties, contesting candidates and their supporters shall refrain from speeches calculated to arouse parochial and sectarian feelings and controversy of conflicts between genders, sects, communities and linguistic groups.10

13.

The political parties, contesting candidates and their supporters shall refrain from deliberate dissemination of false and malicious information. The workers of political parties shall not indulge in forgeries and disinformation to defame other political parties/leaders. The use of abusive language against the leaders and candidates of other political parties shall be avoided at all cost.11

8 9

Section 79 of the Representation of the People Act, 1976]. Section 79 of The Representation of People Act 1976 10 Section 78 of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 11 This is implied in Section 78 of The Representation of People Act 1976

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14.

Political parties, contesting candidates and their supporters shall not use any vehicle to transport to or from the polling station any elector except himself and members of his immediate family.

15.

Political parties, contesting candidates and their supporters shall not propagate against the participation of any person in the elections on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion or caste.

16.

The political parties, contesting candidates and their supporters or other persons shall not encourage or enter into formal or informal agreements debarring women from becoming candidates or exercising their right of vote in an election.12

17.

Canvassing for votes, soliciting of votes, persuading any elector not to vote at the election or for a particular candidate, or exhibiting any notice, sign, banner or flag designed to encourage the electors to vote or discourage the electors from voting for any contesting candidate is prohibited within a radius of 400 yards of the polling station.13

18.

No transaction towards the election expenses shall be made through an account other than the account opened for the purpose;14

19.

All transactions relating to the election expenses shall be entered with GST registered firms;

20.

Violation of aforementioned provisions amounts either to corrupt practice or illegal practice, which are punishable under the law.

12 13

Section 78 of The Representation of People Act 1976 Section 85 of The Representation of People Act 1976 14 Notification No .F.8(12)/2012-Cord Islamabad 27th June, 2012 issued by the ECP

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21.

The political parties contesting candidates and their supporters shall extend all necessary help to law- enforcement agencies for purposes of ensuring the safety and security of election materials, election officials and polling agents on polling day.15

22.

The Political Parties shall endeavor to provide equal opportunity to its qualified members both men and women to participate in electoral process.

23.

Issuingof advertisements at the cost of public exchequer in the newspapers and other media and misuse of official mass media during the election period for partisan coverage of political news and publicity shall be avoided by the Federal, Provincial and Local governments.

24.

Criticism of other political parties and opponent candidates shall be confined to their policies and programmes, past record and work. Parties and candidates shall refrain from criticism of any aspect of private life, not connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties. Criticism based on unverified allegations and distortion of facts shall be avoided.

25.

The right of every individual for peaceful and undisturbed domestic life shall be respected, irrespective of any resentment that a political party or a candidate may have against such individual for his political opinion or activities. Organizing demonstrations or picketing before the house of such individual with a view to protest against his political opinion or activities shall be prohibited under any circumstances.

26.

No political party or candidate shall permit its or his followers to make use of any individuals land, building, compound wall etc. without his permission for erecting flag-staffs, suspending banners, pasting notices, writing slogans etc.

15

IDEA Model Code

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27.

The Political Parties and candidates shall firmly restrain their workers from exerting undue pressure against the print and electronic media, including newspaper offices and printing presses, or resorting to violence of any kind against the media.

28.

There will be a complete ban on carriage and display of all kinds of weapons and fire arms in public meetings and processions as well as on the polling day and till 24-hours after the consolidation of official results by the Returning Officer and official regulations in respect thereof shall be strictly observed. Aerial firing, use of crackers and other explosives at public meetings and at or near the polling stations by the political parties and candidates shall not be allowed.

29.

The President, Speaker/Deputy Speaker of an Assembly, Chairman/Deputy Chairman Senate, Prime Minister, Federal Ministers, Ministers of State, Governors, Chief Ministers, Provincial Ministers and Advisors to the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers and other public office holders shall not combine their official visits with election campaign. This provision will also be applicable to the Caretaker set-up.

30.

Local Government functionaries/representatives shall not announce any development scheme or do anything which tends to influence the results of an election in favour or against a particular candidate or political party

31.

The political parties shall take necessary steps to instill discipline within the party, its candidates, employees and supporters and guide them to follow this Code, comply with laws and regulations, commit no election irregularities, and adhere to election regulations.16

16

IDEA Model Code

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32.

Posters affixed by one party shall neither be removed nor distribution of handbills and leaflets prevented by workers of another party.

Meetings:
33.

The Political Parties and candidate shall hold public rallies and meetings only at the place or places through the routes specified for the purpose. Such places and routes shall be pre-determined in every city and town by district/local administration in consultation with representatives of major political parties and be notified for public information.

34.

The Political parties and candidates shall convey their schedule of meetings at least one week in advance. District/Local Administration shall be responsible for making appropriate security arrangements and regulating such meetings in such a manner that equal opportunities are provided to those interested in holding rallies and meetings.

35.

The Political Parties and candidates shall abide by the decision of the district/local administration regarding holding of public meetings and rallies and shall not hold such meetings at places other than those notified.

36.

Car rallies are not allowed to travel long distances except if the political parties, candidates or their supporters have pre-arranged corner meetings at specific designated places.

Processions:
37.

Processions shall not be taken out by one party along places at which meetings are being held by another party.

38.

A party or candidate organizing a procession shall decide before hand the time and place of the starting of the procession, the route to be followed and the time and place at which the procession will terminate. The route of procession shall be decided in consultation with local/district administration. There shall ordinarily be no
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deviation from the programme. The organizers shall give advance intimation of at least 2 days to the district administration of the change in programme so as to enable them to make necessary arrangements.

39.

The organizers shall take steps in advance to arrange for passage of the procession so that there is no blockage of or hindrance to traffic. If the procession is very long, it shall be organized in segments of suitable lengths, so that at convenient intervals, especially at points where the procession has to pass road junctions, the passage of held up traffic could be allowed by stages thus avoiding heavy traffic congestion and inconvenience of the general public.

40.

If two or more political parties or candidates propose to take processions over the same route or parts thereof at about the same time, the organizers shall establish contact well in advance and decide upon the measures to be taken to ensure that the processions do not clash or cause hindrance to traffic. The assistance of the local administration shall be availed of for arriving at a satisfactory arrangement. For this purpose, the parties shall contact the local administration at the earliest opportunity but not later than 3 clear days before the date of the procession.

Polling Day:
41.

The Political Parties and candidates shall co-operate with the officers on election duty to ensure peaceful and orderly polling and complete freedom to the voters to exercise their franchise without being subjected to any annoyance or obstructions; and supply to their authorized polling agents badges or identity cards.

42.

No political party or a candidate or any of their supporters or a polling agent shall interfere or create hindrance in any manner in official functioning of a Presiding Officer, Assistant Presiding

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Officer, Polling Officer or Security Personnel appointed to perform duty at a polling station;17

43.

No political party or a candidate or any of their supporters or a polling agent shall resort to violence in any form or manner against a Presiding Officer, Assistant Presiding Officer, Polling Officer or Security Official or any other person officially deputed to work at a polling station.

44.

The Political parties shall carry out a comprehensive plan for voters education regarding marking the ballot paper, casting of vote and while doing so voters shall be informed that the secrecy of ballot shall be maintained

45.

In no case the political parties, candidates or their supporters shall establish camps near the polling station on the polling day. The candidates may, however, if so desired, provide Perchis to voters but only during their house to house canvassing and such perchis shall only contain the number and name of polling station, serial number, name, and NIC No. of the voter on the electoral roll and name and number of electoral area and no other sign of any kind whatsoever shall be put on such Perchis.

46.

Except the voters, candidates or duly authorized election agents, no one without a valid pass from the Election Commission or Provincial Election Commissioner, District Returning Officer, or Returning officer concerned shall enter the polling station or a booth. Foreign/domestic observers and representatives of accredited bodies will also be provided access to witness the election process on production of the identification cards/passes issued to them by the aforesaid Election Commission authorities.

47.

The District Returning Officer and Returning Officer shall be responsible to ensure implementation of the Code of Conduct, in their capacity as Magistrate First Class, through district/local

17

Section 86 of The Representation of People Act 1976

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administration, district police or other law enforcing agencies, in the area of their jurisdiction, and violation thereof by any candidate or political party shall tantamount to malpractices as per law and rules and shall entail legal action as per law and rules including disqualification of the candidate.

Code of Conduct for Media

(1) No Radio/ Television Channel shall broadcast or print media shall publish anything that adversely affects the public opinion against a particular political party or a candidate. And no Radio/TV Channel shall broadcast any comment, discussion, advertisement,

documentary, talk shows etc. after the period, beyond which, a political party or a candidate under the law is not allowed to run election campaign. Similarly print media shall also refrain from publishing anything in favor or against a particular political party or a candidate during the aforesaid period. (Section 84 of the Representation of the Peoples Act 1976)

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(2) The print and electronic media shall refrain from disseminating any information about a political party or a candidate which is not supported by cogent evidence about any election related activity. Due care shall also be exercised by them to ascertain veracity of any information or news relating to a political party or a candidate before its telecast, broadcast or publishing.

(3) The print and electronic media shall only announce and publish authentic election results issued by the Presiding Officer, Returning Officer or the ECP.

(4) Remarks about personal life of an individual shall be avoided in print and electronic media.

(5) Radio/TV channels shall not accept any form of donations or any other inducement that might influence the exercise of their professional responsibilities.

(6) All political parties and candidates shall be provided balanced coverage time on National Radio/TV channels during their Election campaign. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) shall ensure the compliance of aforesaid Code by each and every Radio/TV channel.

(7) PEMRA will monitor the coverage given to political parties and candidates for their election campaigns through public/private Radio/TV channels and for that purpose will obtain the

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transmission certificates, details of payments made by the political parties and candidates and copies thereof shall be forwarded to ECP.

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Code of Conduct for Polling Personnel

(1) Presiding Officer shall not follow any instructions except those given by the Returning Officer. Assistant Presiding Officer and Polling Officers shall be responsible to the Presiding Officer and shall follow only his/her instructions. Polling Personnel shall especially focus on punctuality, accuracy and proper communication with superiors. If for any reason, under any circumstances at any time Polling Personnel cannot fulfill its duty, it shall inform her/his Returning Officer without delay.

(2) All the Polling Personnel shall exercise their duties in politically neutral manner and treat all the voters, representatives of political parties and candidates, media and observers without any bias.

(3) Polling Personnel shall not involve in any political or campaign activity nor shall they express any political preference.

(4) Polling Personnel shall not wear any symbols of any party or candidate.

(5) Polling Personnel shall pay special attention on protection of voters rights and secrecy of vote. Presiding Officer and Personnel shall

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act in such a manner as to resolve all problems at the polling station in order to ensure an uninterrupted conduct of voting.

(6) Polling Personnel should show proper courtesy to all voters and attendants at the polling place and shall accommodate illiterate and disabled voters and facilitate their voting, while protecting their right to secrecy.

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Code of Conduct for Election Observers

(1) All the observers shall adhere to the laws of the country and the authority of Election Commission of Pakistan and Election Officials.

(2) Observers shall be politically impartial. Observers should in no way be associated with or affiliated to any political party or a contesting candidate directly or indirectly and should have no apparent sympathy or any particular political ideology, creed, and manifesto, program, aims or objectives of any political party or a contesting candidate.

(3) Observers shall not participate nor obstruct in any electoral activity. Observers shall respect electoral procedures and at the polling station shall give priority to the right of the voters over the right of the observer.

(4) Observers shall maintain proper personal behavior and respect others, including exhibiting sensitivity for culture and customs of the country and observe the highest level of professional conduct at all times.

(5) Observers shall carry with them prescribed identification issued by the Election Commission and will identify themselves to any interested authority upon request.

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(6) All of the organizations requesting accreditation from the ECP shall be responsible for education and training of its individual observers in electoral laws and procedures and this code. The ECP may organize mandatory briefings for the observers.

(7) Observers shall observe electoral processes in a transparent manner and may also share their findings, recommendations and methodology to the ECP.

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Code of Conduct for Security Personnel

(1) All personnel belonging to law enforcing agencies, deputed for any election duty, shall work in close collaboration with concerned District Returning Officer, Returning Officer and other election officials.

(2) All law enforcing agencies shall remain neutral throughout the election process and shall not act in favour of or against any political party or candidate.

(3) On polling day all lawful orders of Returning Officers and Presiding Officers shall be promptly implemented by law enforcing agencies.

(4) The security personnel deputed at the polling station shall stay outside the polling station premises or at a place as directed by concerned Presiding Officer. They shall not enter the polling station premises unless they are so directed by the concerned Presiding Officer.

(5) The officials of law enforcing agencies deployed at a polling station shall assist the Presiding Officer in maintaining or restoring law and order at the polling station as and when asked to do so.

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(6) The security personnel standing outside the polling station shall facilitate the voters and ensure that they are properly queued. They will render all possible assistance to persons with physical disability, old and sick voters including pregnant women. Such voters shall be allowed to stand at the front of queue.

(7) Law enforcing agencies shall ensure that peaceful and conducive environment is provided to voters outside the polling stations and voters are neither intimidated nor hampered from voting.

(8) All law enforcing agencies shall coordinate with one and other in order to ensure that election is held in a peaceful manner.

(9) Where any law enforcing agency is tasked with protecting and transporting election materials under its supervision, such election materials shall be transported with due care and diligence and shall not be tampered during their transport in any manner. The Security forces shall abide all the relevant laws and continuously work on winning the general publics trust by ensuring peaceful law and order situation during election process. Security forces must identify any threats or other problems encountered in maintaining order while carrying out their duties. -. -. - . - . -

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