Acknowledgements
The Researchers under its regional initiative Women and
Politics in Asia Forum (WPAF) and its commitment for women equality and
political empowerment designed the model for Observing Women Contested
Constituencies. Women have been contesting General Elections not even in
In this work The Researchers was supported by its local
focal organizations by providing 400 field observers and constituency
coordinators. We also appreciate the efforts and dedication of our research
team, specially our Lead Consultant for Training and Data Analysis Sahibzada
Saud and our Research Associate Rabia Khaliq for putting up unlimited hours in
making this report possible. Our team of control room coordinators and trainers
did an excellent job of training and coordinating throughout the project with
the field teams.
Lastly, this work was only possible with the financial
assistance of The Asia Foundation. We hope that this first step towards the
first ever documentation of women and their participation in the General Elections
will help in the political empowerment of women.
Aazar Ayaz
Team Leader
July
2008
Table
of Contents
1.1 Rationale for Observation of Women Contested Constituencies
1.2 Goal and Objective of Project
Contextualizing
the 2008 General Elections: An Overview of Pakistan’s Electoral History
2.1 Women Representation 1947-1969
2.2 Women Representation in General Elections 1970-1997
A
Precursor for Women Political Participation: General Elections 2002
3.1 Women Contestants and their Performance
3.2 Representation in Cabinet and Committees of the Parliament - 2002
3.3 Performance of Women in Parliament 2002-2007
3.4 Responsiveness of Main Political Parties to Women’s Political Participation
3.4.1 Allocation
of Tickets to Women Contestants: 1993-2008 Elections
3.4.2 Political
Parties Manifestos for General Elections 2008 and Women
Legal
and Institutional Framework for General Elections 2008
4.1 Electoral Laws and Regulations
4.1.1 The
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
4.1.2 The
Representation of the People Act 1976
4.1.3 The
Political Parties Order 2002
4.1.4 The
Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Contesting Candidates 2007-08
4.2.2 Constituency
Delimitations
4.2.3 Polling
Stations and Electoral Staff
Pre-Election
Observation in Select Women Contested Constituencies
5.1 Contextualizing Empowerment
5.2 Profile of Observed Women Contested Constituencies
5.2.1 Religious
and Cultural Profile of Observed Women Contested Constituencies
5.2.2 Socio-Economic
Profile of the Observed Women Contested Constituencies
5.2.3 Political
Profile of the Women Contested Constituencies Stratified
5.2.4 Profile
of Local Government and Local Government Officials in Observed WCC
5.2.5 Profile
of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Observed WCC
5.2.6 Civil
Society Organizations Activity Profile in the Observed WCC
5.2.7 Media’s
Profile and Its Utilization in Observed WCC
5.3 Profile of Observed Women Contestants - Personal to Political
5.3.1 Switching
of Political Party by Women Contestants in Observed WCC
5.3.2 Political
Alliances in the Observed WCC
5.4 Women Contestants and Electoral Processes in Observed WCC
5.4.2 Allocation
of Tickets and Nomination of Candidates by Political Parties
5.4.3 Allocation
of Party Ticket to Women to Strengthen Political Households
5.4.4 Complaints
Filed by Women Contestants in Observed WCC
5.4.5 Incidence
of Security Violation and Violence in Observed WCC
5.5 Campaigning and Canvassing by Women Contestants in Observed WCC
5.5.1 Support
of Political Parties to Women in Observed WCC
5.5.2 Role
of Male Relatives in Observed WCC
5.5.3 Campaign
Material and Canvassing Mode in Observed WCC
5.6 Political Media Coverage and Women in Observed WCC
Election-Day
Observation in Observed Women Contested Constituencies
6.1 Training and Capacity of Polling Staff and Polling Agents
6.4 Security, Logistics and Transportation
6.5 Perceptions and Issues of Fairness
6.6 Perception of Fairness Versus Incidences at Polling Stations: Voting to Counting
6.7 Vote Count Process – An Overall Comment
6.8 Incidences of Violence in Observed WCC
Post
Election Observation: Results of Observed Women Contested Constituencies
7.1 Results for Directly Elected Women for National Assembly
7.2 Results for Directly Elected Women for Provincial Assemblies
7.3 Women Elected on Reserved Seats
7.4 Women Elected on both NA and PA Reserved Seats
7.5 Women Contestants on Both General and Reserved Seats
Elected
Women in Post Election Scenario
8.1 Role of Women in Government Formation
8.2 Women Members of the Cabinet and Speakers
8.3 Parliamentary Standing Committees and Women
8.4 Government’s 100-Day Plan and Women
8.5 Aspiration and Expectations of Elected Women on General Seats
Conclusion
and Recommendations
Annex 1 Manifestoes of Major Political Parties
Annex 2 List of National Assembly Women Candidates
Annex 3 List of Provincial Assembly Women Candidates
Annex 4 Active Civil Society Organizations in Observed WCC
Annex 5 Use of Local Media in Observed Constituencies
Annex 6 Seats Reserved for Women (NA and PA)
Annex 7 Detail of Women in the Standing Committees of the National Assembly
Annex 9 List of TR Local Focal Organizations as Field Observers
Questionnaire 1 Women Contested Constituency Pre-election Profile A, B and C
Questionnaire 2 Election Day Observation Form A, B, C and D
Security, Logistics and Transportation
The
Researchers (TR) is a social governance research organization that has
customized election observation of women contested constituencies from pre-poll
to post-poll phase under its regional initiative “Women in Politics in
Asia Forum”. Domestic observation is a critical factor to enhance the
credibility of a country’s election. By adding a gender lens to the
election observation, TR contributes to the regional drive aimed at highlight
the ‘Gender Face of Politics’. In developing democracies, equal and
equitable participation of all segments of society is cardinal for
institutional strengthening and growth. Women in Asian region in general and
The
election observation of selected 65 (37%) of women contested constituencies
across
In the 2008
elections, approximately 21% of the total constituencies, i.e. 179, were Women
Contested Constituencies (WCC), i.e. 64 National Assembly (NA) and 115
Provincial Assemblies (PA) constituencies out of which 37 and 28 respectively
were observed. There were 195 women
contestants in total, 78 on party tickets and 117 were independents. In the
WCC, the approximate ratio of contesting Male to Female contestants was 5:1.
Over all, 37% contestants were observed i.e. 53% of NA and 28% of PA, with a
mix of party ticket holders and independents. 7 women contested on more than
one NA seat, 6 women on more than one PA seats and 13 women contested on both
NA and PA seats. 2 female each
contested at NA level in NWFP and Balochistan with 10 and 6, respectively at
the PA level.
Approximately
50% of contesting women at NA level belonged to an established political
household. In 50 of the observed WCC, contestants were married and their level
of education ranged between 2 PhDs to 33 Graduates with 20 of them having a Master’s
degree. These women contestants competed for 15.411 million registered voters
in the observed WCC out of which 6.891 million were females.
Among
women candidates, those hailing from the elite political families dominated the
arena by representing party tickets. A common factor for their presentation was
the education eligibility criteria that restricted the entry of the
“men” of the house and opened vistas for these females. Barring
few, most of the women contestants from the political families did not have a
political career. The dynastic characteristic of the political culture
facilitated them as the seats they contested were “family seats”
inherited by the females under compulsion rather than choice. Election
finances, among other factors, were not a problem. Men of the family managed
all procedural steps and campaigned on their behalf. The social standing of
these families could manage socio-cultural and socio-religio
effects/constraints for these women contestants but the same could not be
managed for female voters, polling staff, polling agents and independent
contestants that faced numerous issues.
Socio-cultural
practices, social taboos, misinterpretation of religion and stereotyping
fostered under-representation of women in the electoral processes inspite of
their equal legal rights. In the observed WCC,
The
most prominent female party switchers among the previously elected women were
Hina Rabbani Khar, Firdous Ashiq Awan and Sughra Imam who switched from PML-Q
to PPP, while Shehzadi Umerzadi Tiwana joined PML-N from PML-O. Ms. Abida
Husain switched from independent to PPP and Dr. Saira Tariq, minority reserved
seat, joined PML-Q leaving PPP.
The
nomination paper of only 2 women candidates, 1 in Punjab of PML-Q and 1 in
Sindh of an independent, in the observed WCC were rejected. A negligible number
of 3 women contestants, in the observed WCC faced unpleasant incidences.
Overall, women contestants’ interaction with ECP functionaries, RO and
DRO, at district/provincial/HQ level, the officials’ attitude was
categorized between pleasant to functional. The involvement of representatives
of District governments and officials remained an open question.
Most of
the party ticket holders had party support in election campaigning but then
most were also from established political dynasties. In 85% of the observed WCC
men were the campaign leaders and organizers with large majority having the
picture of leader of the party and men of the house more visible in campaign
material. Parties and contestants used local electronic media i.e. cable, for
campaigning. Media coverage of women in News bulletins for selected channels
remained on an average of 20% with highest belonging to Geo and lowest to PTV.
The coverage of women’s political empowerment as in issue in current
affairs programme averaged 16% on Express TV while PTV ranked last did not give
the issue any coverage.
At the
National Assembly level, 15 women got elected out of 73 contestants. PPPP had
7 winners followed by 3 each belonging
to PML-N and PML-Q. 1 each got elected on MQM and independent ticket. No women
could make it to the National Assembly from NWFP and Balochistan on general
seat. A total of 10 women got elected at Provincial level against 122
contestants i.e. 8 out of 73 in Punjab (5 PML-N, 1 each from PPPP, PML-Q and
independent); In Sindh 1 out of 28 was
elected of PPPP; In Balochistan 1 out of 8 of PML-Q was elected. In NWFP 11
women contested but none got elected. Out of the 15 women elected at NA level 14
were observed WCC as were 7 PA constituencies of the 10 that elected women at
PA level.
There
were 32 Independent Women Contestants at NA level and 85 at PA level. One each
at both levels got elected i.e. Saima Akhtar Bharwana from NA-90 Jhang-V and
Robina Shaheen Wattoo from PP-188 Okara-IV. 16 women got elected on both
National and Provincial Assemblies’ reserved seats, 10 belonged to PPPP
and 6 to PML-N. 3 women contested both on reserved and open seats i.e. Ms.
Tehmina Daultana PML-N, Sumera Malik- PML-Q and Khushbakh Shujaat MQM. They won
general seats and vacated reserved seats. 9 women losing on general seat, at NA
and PA level, made it to the house on reserved seat.
The
issues of under represented women in electoral process was topped by non-availability of CNIC, access to mobility,
distances of the polling station and relatively less female exclusive polling
station and booths, low level of literacy and access to information and freedom
to exercise their voting right irrespective of their family pressure. With
reard to the political parties, the number of women at the decision-making
level was negligible with disorganized women wings that are used merely as
window dressing. The Manifestos of the major parties also reflect the same
trend. Electoral processes and rules are gender blind but on Election Day they
become gender ineffective as other factor takeover. Female polling agents were
used for harassing to being harassed due to non-availability of educated
females. Female Polling staff was relatively less trained and was obstructed by
non-provision of logistic, security and transport especially with ballot boxes.
Female voters who were registered suffered due to lack of information and
education. This was evident from the problems they faced in proper stamping of
the ballot, finding their voter number and designated polling stations.
Therefore, majority of women voters relied on candidates’ pick and drop
facilities and information slips.
The
so-called mother of all elections, were held in an environment of fear and
sadness following the traumatic death of Ms. Benazir Bhutto. However, the higher than expected turnout and
the reasonably fair conduct of the elections is a testament to the thriving
democratic culture in the country. This statement is more reflective of the
polling-day processes. Amid fears of
widespread rigging and violence, the polling day in the observed WCC went
relatively smoothly. The data structure designed to highlight the difference in
working of male and female polling stations did not register considerable gap
on issues of vital importance. However, there were certain areas in which the
performance of polling agents, polling staff and the facilities provided left
more to desire in the women polling stations.
The
major recommendations are: to ensure access to mandatory and free CNIC to women
and updated voter roll; Deployment of free public transport for increased voter
turnout; Political parties to have at least 20% women representation at
decision making level and allocation of seats to women with party and/or State sponsored
campaign finances for ordinary political worker/women to contest election;
increased number of polling stations especially for women and higher number of
female polling staff; Educated Youth to be enrolled as “Volunteers for
ECP” to help polling staff and guide women voters; Annulment of elections
where less then 10% or no women have
casted vote; Manifestos of the parties should be specific of women issues
rather than generalized statements to undo perceived stereotyping of their
role; Media should report with social responsibility as opinion facilitator to
project women issues as substantive than cosmetic; Civil society should continue its support for women political
empowerment by including local language voter education in all activities to inculcate
social responsibility and civic sense; and cooperation of all stakeholders as a
bridge support to the cause and each other.
Chapter
1
Introduction
For a
system to qualify as a democratic set up, it must ensure that every citizen has
the right to vote and to contest election. For most women of the world, the
right to vote came as late as the early and mid-20th Century. However,
notwithstanding the legal framework that guarantee equal rights to women, the
socio-cultural dynamics in many parts of the world have proved potent enough to
keep the issue of gender equality pertinent even in the 21st century.
Gender
disparity is the most persistent and chronic manifestation of inequality.
Inspite of continuous struggle for equal opportunities for women, they[1] still constitute 70%
of the world’s poor and almost 2/3rd of its illiterates. This exclusion
defies rationale and is an indictment of the modern development paradigms in
place. Despite relentless efforts from
the UN platform to address varied inequalities through conventions and global
commitments, the fact remains that gender inequality is not a technocratic goal
but a political commitment.
In
democratic pursuits, the set of obstacles in women empowerment ranges from the
electoral system to resolve of the political parties to support female
candidates. In countries like
As per
the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, there was 10% and 5% provision for
reservation of seats for women in the National Assembly (NA) and Provincial
Assemblies (PA) respectively. The provision expired before the 1990 elections
and was not revived despite the democratic civil rule and being a priority item
in the manifestos of the major political parties. The electoral reforms of 2002
under the military government of General Pervez Musharraf introduced quota
reservation for women which included 33% at all tiers of Local Government and
approximately 17% in Senate, National and Provincial Assemblies. This
affirmative step translated in 73 elected women in National Assembly (NA) i.e.
13 on general seats and 60 on women quota reserved seats. In four Provincial
Assemblies (PA) the figures were 140 in total out of which 12 were on general
seats and 128 on reserved seats. The total strength of 73 women in NA
constituted 21% of the house, a significant improvement comparing the
approximately 4% of women members in the 1997 Assembly.
Despite
the improvement in numbers and a host of other efforts, women’s status in
political career is not yet effectively established. This can largely be
attributed to: (a) Discontinuation of democratic processes (b) informal and unorganized
civil society (c) lack of gender equality and equity in the society (d)
deteriorating law and order situation and (e) overall misperception of
community on the issues of women in politics. Cultural and religious
sensitivities, mobility, freedom of expression and independent opinion and
awareness-cum-information about the politics, political process and social
restrictions and responsibilities are cross cutting themes that further
restrict women’s active participation in political field. Pakistani
politics has never had a culture of promoting women’s political activism
and leadership and therefore difficulties for women as voters, candidates and
political activists remain.
1.1 Rationale for Observation of Women Contested Constituencies
Politics
in
Political
landscape of the year 2007 was a roller coaster ride which ushered the politics
and electoral system into a transition phase. A number of dynamics were added
to the political milieu and elections of 2008 became the corner stone of
anticipated change. This phenomena warranted analytical observation and
detailed documentation of the electoral and political processes. On the other
hand, the deteriorating law and order situation and political uncertainty
raised many questions like: What would we gain out it? Would there be
elections? Is there a need to observe elections? Is progression of women in
elections a valid question? And why do we need to observe women constituencies
separately? The academicians and practitioners are of the universal opinion
that anything not recorded/documented has the higher chance of being
categorized as “never happened”. Hence, it was concluded that
loosing an opportunity would be denying an opportunity to create baselines,
learn from our mistakes and draw upon achievements.
The
Researchers (TR) is introducing its niche, nationally and regionally, of customized
election observation of women contested constituencies from pre-poll to the
post-poll phase. In generalized electoral and political observation, gender is
"a question" rather than "the question", hence the women
specific change and adjustment of focus in observation would result in the
processes to be interpreted accordingly, to hold system and stakeholders
accountable against their stated position and contribution to women's political
empowerment.
This is
part of TR’s regional initiative “Women in Politics in Asia Forum
(WPAF)” which has country chapters in
Research
on politics in general and from the perspective of gender and minorities in
particular has been minimal. This is perhaps the first of its kind study in
1.2 Goal and Objective of Project
In view of previously mentioned arguments, this research
project has been conceived to achieve the following goal and objectives:
Goal: To empower and capacitate civil society and national
institutions to promote and uphold
principles of good governance, transparency, accountability and mainstream
women in political and electoral processes
Objectives:
Objective 1: Development of
training material and training of local election observation teams
Objective 2: Observation,
monitoring of electoral process related activities of stakeholders, i.e.
government, political parties, ECP, media and election projects
Objective 3: Election Day
observation of selected women-contested constituencies to observe and document
the Election Day
Objective 4: Compilation of
data, related analysis and final report
Output:
Final
Report on Women in Politics in General Elections 2007/08: Documentation of
Journey and Processes
The research element of the project required a hypothesis
which is:
Elected women constituents continue to overcome socio
political and socio-cultural obstacles and are predominantly loyal to their
mentors because:
a). at personal level
- it leads to increased representation and
opportunity
- it is instrumental to
strengthen political power houses
b). at political level
- it contributes to political image building
i.e. enlightened moderation
- it
influences society through portrayal of women in media
The election observation effort for this project was
conceptualized to reflect a comprehensive picture of the electoral processes as
understood and experienced by important stakeholders such as, voters,
candidates via their polling agents and election commission via electoral
staff. Keeping in view the enormous challenges of mobilization and capacity
building of field teams and the logistical operations, 37 women contested
National Assembly constituencies were selected across the country. In addition,
these constituencies provided the opportunity to observe the working of
electoral processes in 27 women contested Provincial Assembly constituencies
that fall within the electoral map of the selected 37 National Assembly
constituencies. In addition, one stand-alone Provincial Assembly constituency
was selected in NWFP.
A socio-political and economic profile of each
constituency was designed to capture the environment and background for
understanding the local power structure and operationalization of important
qualitative variables that shape the electoral trends and traditions in each
constituency. This information was
necessary for contextualizing the findings of the information on pre-poll
developments and to the data of quantitative surveys. In keeping with the
comprehensive scope of the study, there were three parallel surveys designed to
capture the opinions of 4608 voters, 1536 political agents and 1536 polling
staff in 797 selected polling stations, out of which 214 were male, 172 female
and 411 combined.
The criteria for selection of constituencies comprised
several factors and strategic objectives with the aim to cover maximum constituencies
where large number of women were contesting elections against open seats and
were a political party’s ticket holders. Independent contestants were
also covered. Prominent among others were an attempt to capture the
geographical, cultural and ethnic diversity of the national electoral field and
to a lesser extent, security and logistical concerns.
|
Table 1.1 Women
Contestants on General Seats |
||||||
|
Province |
Total General Seats |
Women Contested Seats |
Observed Seats |
|||
|
NA Seats |
PA Seats |
NA Seats |
PA Seats |
NA Seats |
PA Seats |
|
|
|
148 |
297 |
47 |
69 |
27 |
19 |
|
NWFP |
35 |
99 |
2 |
10 |
1 |
3 |
|
Sindh |
61 |
130 |
12 |
30 |
8 |
5 |
|
Balochistan |
14 |
51 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
|
FATA |
12 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
TOTAL |
272 |
577 |
64 |
115 |
37 |
28 |
In the
second step, 16 polling stations were strategically and randomly selected after
categorization of areas where applicable, into urban, semi-urban/outskirts and
rural, within the varying number of polling stations established across each
constituency.
It is important to note that the field strategy was
designed to cover the opening of four polling stations, closing of three
polling stations, counting of votes at three polling stations, and accumulation
and consolidation of the results for the constituency at the Returning Officers
Office.
The third step involved selection of respondents for the
three surveys aimed at voters, polling agents and polling staff. At each
polling station, 6 voter interviews (3 male and 3 female voters), 2 polling
agents’ interviews (1 male and 1 female), and 2 polling staff’s
interviews (1 male and 1 female) were targeted.
Since the idea was not to gauge the voter turnout or conducting an exit
poll, the number of interviews at each polling station is reasonable to reflect
on the conduct of electoral processes and perceptions of the targeted groups
regarding the proceedings.
Last but not the least; the whole study was designed to
account for information on the conduct of election processes with two broad and
crosscutting themes. First was to explore the gender specific dynamics of the
processes and operations of elections. Second, the study aimed to account for
the gender-neutral aspects of the elections in the selected constituencies that
were crucial in shaping the results. However this did not exclude women
contesting independently. The selected constituencies were observed since
November 2007.
Following tools were employed for data collection:
- Primary data collection through:
·
Field based 48 teams of 2 members each (1 male and 1 female) total
of 96 constituency coordinators since November 2007; to observe Pre Elections.
in 65 observed constituencies
·
65 Observed constituency-based composite constituency profile,
women’s socio-political profile, electoral authorities and processes
profile and political profile through fact and perception based structured survey which served as baseline
·
Structured weekly election activity reports to record procedural
and campaigning developments from 65 constituencies
·
Personal interviews with selected contestants
·
Select electronic and print media observation i.e. 10 TV channels,
9 Newspapers, 2 Monthly Magazines and internet based reports
·
Election day observers’ team constituted of 396 male and
female national and international observers. Observations were recorded on
structured formats designed to capture voter, polling agents, polling staff
responses and observer’s observation of processes. 7,941 forms were
generated by these teams out of 797
Polling stations
- Secondary data collection through:
·
Literature Review
·
Pre election observation through Pakistan Governance Forum since
January 2007, another TR initiative
The field
based data collection was tabulated and analyzed on SPSS. In data tabulation,
the percentage of NWFP and Balochistan appears to be higher but it needs to be
read in conjunction with the fact that there were only 3 contestants each at NA
level for NWFP and Balochistan and 11 and 8 respectively for PA. Out of which
TR has observed 1 each at NA level and 3 and 1 respectively for NWFP and
Balochistan.
