Over 150,000 voter registration applications filed in 23 districts

The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN)'s District Long-Term Observers (DLTOs) interviewed District Election Commissioners (DECs) about ongoing voter registration.

The 23 DECs who shared statistics with FAFEN received a total of 156,131 applications for voter registration in the first week of March 2013, says a press release issued by FAFEN on Tuesday. FAFEN DLTOs asked DECs about the ongoing voter registration in 33 districts in the first week of March 2013 - 15 in Punjab, 14 in Sindh, three in Balochistan and one in KP.

The DECs in these districts were asked if their offices were receiving applications for voter registration. A total of 29 of the 33 DECs (88pc) said they are receiving applications for voter registration. Two DECs said they had stopped receiving applications (6pc), and two chose not to share information about voter registration with FAFEN observers (6pc).

Of the 29 districts receiving voter registration applications, 23 DECs (79pc) said they are compiling statistics (keeping records) on voter registration, while five (17pc) were not. The DEC in Bhakkar did not share this information (4pc).

In total, among the 33 DECs interviewed, more than twothird DECs (23, or 70pc) shared full information with FAFEN about ongoing voter registration statistics. More than one-tenth (4, or 12pc) were receiving voter registration applications, but were not keeping records of the number of applications.