KARACHI: Fair and Free Election Network (FAFEN) that is Election Monitoring NGO has said that the first phase of local body elections in 12 districts of Punjab were relatively peaceful however, irregularities were found in the elections. FAFEN says that irregularity incidents in Punjab took place due to weaker grip of Election Commission on electoral system.
It is stated in a report by FAFEN that the irregularities were also found in local body elections held in 8 districts of Sindh, adding that recent elections were better than those held in past. FAFEN says that the only purpose of issuing a report concerning first phase of local body elections in Punjab and Sindh is to bring improvement in second and third phase of the elections.
It is pertinent to mention here that second and third phase of local body elections will be held in Sindh on 19 November and 5 December. FAFEN says that the biggest irregularity that was found in Punjab during first phase of the elections was to have stopped FAFEN from monitoring polling and the process of vote counting despite the fact that FAFEN had accreditation cards of Election Commission.