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Interview with head of EU election observers

[Pakistan] Interview with EU election monitor. IRIN
John Cushnahan, head of the EU’s election observer mission to Pakistan
John Cushnahan, head of the EU’s election observer mission to Pakistan, is a member of the European Parliament for a constituency in the Republic of Ireland. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, this is the third time that he has been involved in election observation. In an interview with IRIN, Cushnahan maintained that the future of democracy depended on a successful outcome in Thursday's elections. He added that although the mission's report would not be directly related to aid, progress on human rights and democracy were essential preconditions for many bilateral cooperation agreements with the EU. QUESTION: What is the observer mission's mandate in Pakistan and what are its major achievements to date? ANSWER: The role of an observer mission is precisely that we are here to observe and not to supervise or monitor - also not to interfere in the internal politics of a country or indeed to interfere in the election campaign itself. We issue reports at the end of the exercise, taking into account a number of universally accepted criteria. These include, for example, the compilation of the list of voters; the independence of the election administration; the constitutional and legal framework of the election; assessing whether or not the parties have been able to organise and campaign freely; examine issues such as access to the media - if it has been equal and fair, especially the state media; whether or not there has been an abuse of state resources; and, of course, polling day activities and the counting process. So it is a very comprehensive assessment. In terms of what has been the success of such exercises in the past, we probably had about 20 observation missions, and this is part of a programme started in 1998 funded by the EU commission called the "Promotion of Democratisation and Human Rights". Q: What are the procedures to observe elections? A: Normally you deploy a team depending on the size of a country. Obviously, in a country as big as Pakistan with some 72 million voters, it has to be a big team. Our original intention was to deploy 164 observers. It is expected at this stage that our full deployment will be close to a 100. This is less than we originally intended, but the problem was that the authorities here had refused to provide additional security cover for the mission. That meant that we were unable to take decisions in sufficient time to deploy people. It is only in the last couple of days that the federal authorities have indicated that they will provide security cover, having publicly refused it for such a long period. However, this will in no way undermine our task. We will be able to discharge our task fully, but it is just a pity that we were not able to deploy the number of people we intended to deploy. Q: What are the implications of the recent publication of the mission's internal document to the press? A: It is very worrying and has caused us major problems. It does put a strain on relations with the government. Indeed, I noted on some of the wire services that we were rebuked by the president himself. The information minister has said that we should stick to observation and not become a party in the elections. I understand also that the election officials have expressed various concerns about the report as [have] some of the county’s [political] parties. I think if the people read the document, first of all they will see that it is not a report. It’s purely an analysis of the views that have been expressed to us, without giving any conclusions. I had made it clear that we will not produce any conclusions until after the election process has been completed. We didn't want to say something that has an impact on the election process. Q: How do you look at the widely expressed assertions of pre-poll rigging? A: In absolute agreement with statements that I have already made. I am not prepared to comment on any aspects of the elections process in advance of the completion of the process. It is only after the elections that we would come to any conclusions that will be made public. We will ask our observers to return from the field following the aggregation of votes. We will debrief them in our mission’s headquarters, and we will publish our findings giving our verdict on the elections, probably somewhere in the afternoon of 12 October. Q: Many Pakistani politicians and analysts agree that the introduction of new laws and changes in the constitution will result in a biased election. They also maintain that although the day of polling may appear orderly, the context of the poll cannot lead to a just expression of the people's will. A: Let me absolutely clear that every part of the election process is important - one follows on to the next. I appreciate that the people’s views are very important, as is the legal and constitutional framework, as is the access to the media. But as observers it is important not to get drawn into conclusions on those issues before the electoral process has been completed. However we understand the pre-poll period, we understand the importance of the constitutional and legal environment, and we will give a clear verdict on that, but only after the people have exercised their vote. Q: Have you conveyed any concerns to the government of Pakistan on pre-poll rigging? A: We have discussed with all the political parties, with the election commission and with the authorities all aspects of the election campaign, listening to each of their views, and of course in some cases they are very different views. In some cases there is agreement on issues. We have always been careful to point out that before we can come on any conclusions, allegations must be backed by evidence. So we have received allegations with evidence applied, and we are assessing to validate that evidence to come to some sort of conclusions on the statements made by those who have spoken to us. Q: What are their fears in terms of security, and how do you look at the assertion that your mission was denied access into the Tribal Areas? A: We have not been denied access to anywhere, we have not been prevented from going anywhere. But obviously you can’t go everywhere unless you are satisfied that the observers are safe and sound while discharging their task. The issue of security is one that has not helped our mission. We came here on the expectation that we had a formal invitation and a memorandum of understanding, including security provision. But it was made clear to us in three of the first four meetings that we had with professional bodies that we will not get a formal invitation, we will not get a memorandum of understanding nor a security cover. We are not asking for a blanket security cover, we are asking for the commitment to provide it when we deem it necessary. Or if the authorities deem it necessary because of the intelligence information that they would have. Q: Is there any relationship between EU aid to Pakistan and the thumbs up from election observers? A: This is not a territory that is within our remit. It is a matter for the EU Commission, the Council and the Parliament. All that we do as an election observation team is to complete the report on the elections, giving our verdict on whether the election was free and fair or whether it was flawed. It is matter then for other institutions, because we then [will have] ceased to exist. I suppose it is known that trade and cooperation agreements in the EU have often human rights and democracy clauses which say that trade and cooperation agreements should be dependent on these principles. Q: Based on what you have already seen and heard since you have been here, do you think the poll will be a true reflection of the will of the people? A: It’s hard [to say]. We can only assess on the number of people that will turn out on the day, which is of course not the only determining factor, because the people can exercise their democratic right to vote or not to vote. Obviously, you have to look at whether or not the result has been affected by any interference by the principles that I talked about earlier. Q: After the election, what happens to the report you produce? A: We produce a preliminary report within 48 hours of the count for publication in a press conference on 12 October. It is called a preliminary report. In essence, it is the final report in terms of the verdict. But what then happens is that a final report is then drafted, which justifies the decision of the preliminary report. Over the two-week period following the publication of the preliminary report, then all the documentary evidence that we have used to come to the conclusions is put together. This is general information about the political, constitutional, legal environment and the election administration, and once the process is completed, which is expected to be in two weeks, we then give it to Chris Patten, the EU Commissioner for External Relations. He then takes the decision of where to send it. As a matter of course it will be sent to the authorities in Pakistan and the election commission, member states' governments and also the European Parliament. Q: How optimistic are you about the future of democracy in Pakistan? A: That very much depends on what happens on 10 October. These elections are part of the road map to democracy. This was expected [to be] a return to democratic principles, and that’s why this mission has a very important role to discharge.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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