Implementation of election law and training of elections staff is a must, reiterates FAFEN after observing PF-1 Peshawar by-election.

ISLAMABAD: The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) observed the by-election for NWFP Assembly seat PF-1 in Peshawar in 86% of polling stations on April 11, 2009 and reiterates its recommendations to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding the need for training of election officials and greater vigilance in the administration of by-elections.

Implementation of Election Law: Constituency Statistics

The PF-1 seat fell vacant after the killing of Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) Alam Zeb Khan of the Awami National Party in a terrorist attack, who won the February 2008 general election. There are 123,275 registered voters in the constituency.

Thirteen contestants for the by-election included the brother of the deceased MPA Aurangzeb Khan (ANP), Akhwandzada Irfan Ullah Shah (JUI-F), Aitbar Khan Yusafzai Advocate (Independent), Akram Khan (Independent), Anwar Gull (Independent), Baharullah (Independent), Haji Dost Mohammad (Jamaat-e-Islami), Doctor Mohammad Zakir Shah (PML-N), Abdul Aziz (Independent), Abdul Wali Khan (Independent), Ghaliba Khurshid (Independent), Mohammad Shahbaz (Independent)and Meer Alam Khan (Independent).

According to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the ANP candidate Aurangzeb Khan won the seat by securing 9,886 votes. His closest rival was Haji Dost Muhammad who polled 4508 votes.

FAFEN Observers

FAFEN deployed 12 trained, accredited and non-partisan observers to observe the byelection in PF-1. FAFEN observers visited 56 of 65 polling stations (86%) and recorded their observations on a standardized, objective checklist based on election rules and regulations following best practices for election observation.