How to Rig Elections in Pakistan: A guide
I was wondering about the ways in how a elections can be rigged. If you think about it their are actually only a few strategies that can be employed. Most of these can easily be detected if the Ballots and other documentation are preserved. So here are the ways Election can be influenced:
1. Pre poll rigging: Least interesting way.It happens almost everywhere in every election. Mostly developmental funds etc are released before election to fund campaigns or buy votes. Other ways are spending more then stipulated amounts on campaigns. Enticing voters with cash, gifts etc. Using police or others to intimidate voters and so on.
Given how common this is and how well known its not worth discussing.
More intressting ways are gerrymandering districts. So for example parties design districts in a way that their opponenets vote is split. Easy way to detect this is to compare voting over an entire district and compare the seats won. So in Lahore division, Fasilabad, Sialkot and Karachi, even if PTI won a large chunk of vote it could not mange seats. Karachi is by far the worst case after Musharaf changed the districts in 2004 to give MQM a huge advantage.
In some cases non contiguous areas were grouped in. MQM breakthrough in Kemari and Landhi are partly results of these efforts.
Polling station in its own areas can be stuffed to negate votes in other polling station. This can also be easily detected.
2.Poll day rigging:
The strategies are diverse and theor effectiveness varies. Here is a list with example
- Delay polling in stations: Infamous case is Karachi NA 250 where poll were dealyed for hours. Areas that were targeted MQM knew it did not have a armed presence and would probably not be able to control polling stations.
PML N NA 125 is another case. If the RO polling staff are on your side they can be asked to slow down the polling process so that Less votes are casted. Or ppl simply quit
-Destroying Ballots:Polling staff can selectively destroy votes. Per rules if ballot tearing occurs the vote is wasted. The polling staff by looking at the voter can make a decision who he may vote for (By ethnicity, social class or seeing party paraphernalia etc). Many voters simply dont know these rules and go on and put the invalid ballet.
This can be detected if a pattern emerges in the invalid ballots. If they are in a large number and mostly from one party it would mean this tactic was employed.
In some rural areas this process is less subtle whole polling boxes where a rivial candidate polls higher are simple confiscated and ballots destroyed.
-Ballot stuffing:A common tactic if one party gets complete control of a polling station and ejects Polling officers or observers of a rival party. Seen through out country . One way to detect is to checki polling station with an unusually high turnout. Either by using a cut off (say 80%) or simply comparing with other polling station in the vicinity.
Election commision has this turnout data for every polling staion in its Statement of polls XI form.
-Disenfranchisement:
To be continued... Work in progress
