With political parties ramping up their electioneering efforts, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority (Pemra) Tuesday directed the media to abide by the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) code of conduct in the run-up to the upcoming general elections.
As per the ECP’s “code of conduct”, Pemra — along with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Press Information Department (PID), Cyber Wing, and Digital Media Wing of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MolB) — will monitor the coverage given to political parties and candidates for their election campaigns.
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Pemra’s advisory comes as media, like elsewhere in the world, has played a significant role in ensuring fair and transparent elections that are deemed acceptable by all stakeholders.
Therefore, the coverage executed by media organisations, and personnel is tantamount to building confidence in Pakistan’s fragile democratic system which has had a rather tumultuous journey filled with allegations of “rigged” elections — the 2018 and 2013 elections being the recent most instances.
In both of the aforementioned elections, there were rampant complaints that raised concerns over media coverage before, during, and after the polls.
However, the ECP, in its bid to prevent this in the 2024 elections, has prohibited — under Section 182 of the Elections Act 2017 — the media “from projecting election campaign of any candidate or political party during 48 hours ending at midnight following the conclusion of the poll for any election.”
The electoral body — after the EU expressed its inability to send a full-scale election observation mission — has also called on the Foreign Office to invite international observers to monitor the transparency of the upcoming general elections.
Apart from barring the media from running election campaigns of candidates and political parties at the cost of the national exchequer, the top electoral body will receive comprehensive reports from the PTA, PID, and other relevant departments provisioning the details of payments made by the political parties and candidates within 10 days after poll day.
