IFES - Pakistan

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Pakistan

Rural women in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province attend an IFES voter education workshop.

Since 2002, IFES has been working to build Pakistan's democratic institutions.  This included technical assistance and commodity support to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for pollworker training and voter registration, strengthening the capacity of legislators to perform civic functions, polling voters to assess their opinions of elections, and partnering with local non-governmental organizations to educate rural women about voting procedures and to improve citizen understanding of decentralization reforms.

Current Projects

Pakistan Election Support Program

IFES has been an official partner and technical advisor to the ECP since 2006. Building on the success of previous programs, the efforts of ECP's Electoral Reforms Committee and recommendations of key national and international stakeholders regarding electoral reform, IFES and the ECP have agreed to intensify their collaboration to strengthen the electoral administration and framework in Pakistan.  IFES' cadre of international experts along with an enhanced national staff will work closely with the ECP in implementing joint program objectives. This includes: enhancing computerized electoral rolls, developing ECP capacity, ECP institutional reform, transparent management of election results, mitigation of electoral violence, resolution of electoral disputes, support to the ECP’s legal unit and political finance reform.

All activities will be in coordination with other technical assistance providers to the ECP.

Pakistan Mediation and Adjudication of Election Complaints

Since 2007, IFES worked with the ECP to increase stakeholder knowledge of the electoral dispute resolution process and develop the capacity of electoral and judicial officials to effectively intake, investigate and adjudicate official complaints and resolve challenges to election results. The goal of the project is to improve the legal adjudication process for electoral disputes and reduce incidences of political violence in pre and post-election periods. The project was highlighted by a first of its kind comprehensive study of the mechanisms used to resolve challenges to election results. This was jointly administered and adjudicated by the ECP and Pakistan's judiciary.

Past Projects in Pakistan »