Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE TASNEEM NOORANI REVIEW COMMISSION

P.O. Box 1594, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: +92 51 227 0744 Fax: +92 51 2 7 ! 9!

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

INTRODUCTION
Chairman Imran Khan, after having led the party through sixteen years of a lean period, took the old de!ision of having intra party ele!tions in "#$", in order to ase the party on demo!rati! prin!iples and take a %ui!k leap for&ard, into !onverting a politi!al party into an institution' (ike a lot of first experiments, the &ay the intra party ele!tions &ere organi)ed, and its timing, !ould have een etter' To understand all its dynami!s there &as a need to study the pro!ess !arefully, identify the short!omings and suggest a &ay for&ard'

*e!ondly, there &as also a need evaluate and understand the &ay the general ele!tions &ere !ontested y +TI' There &ere many !omplaints regarding ti!ket distri ution, the organi)ation of the national !ampaign and the an!illary matters related to it' These needed to e studied to ensure etter results in the future' To a!hieve these o ,e!tives, the Chairman +TI de!ided to set up a Revie& Commission !omprising of three mem ers' They &ere$' "' 0' .r' Tasneem Noorani, .r' /hmad O&ais .r' 1a%oo I)har Chairman' .em er' .em er'

/fter examining a large num er of &itnesses and detailed deli eration, the Revie& Commission finali)ed its report' The follo&ing summarises its !ontent and re!ommendations'

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

INTRA PARTY ELECTIONS

2or the first time in the history of politi!al evolution in +akistan, a politi!al party 3+TI4 held free party ele!tions to ele!t the party5s offi!e earers starting from the grass roots, in the form of !ounselors at the U'C' level' 6y free it is meant that the party leadership neither had any favorites, nor made any efforts kno&ingly to help any parti!ular person or group' It genuinely &anted the ordinary mem ers to ele!t their organi)ers'

6ased on the num er of people intervie&ed, the intra party ele!tion exer!ise as a &hole sho&ed mixed results' The do&n side &as-7

a' The 8 faux pas5 of the voter lists and the ar itrary manner in &hi!h ele!tion issues and !omplaints &ere handled y the 9le!tion Commission, 3&ho &ere pressed for time4 left a poor impression of the party5s organi)ational state and a ility &ith the party &orkers' ' The expe!ted utility of having a proper s!reening pro!ess of the prospe!tive !andidates y the Distri!t' :Reg' : +rovin!ial ody through un iased sele!tion, and etter lo!al kno&ledge of the !andidates, did not play out as envisaged'

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
!' The lo& parti!ipation at the U'C level y the genuine party mem ers:voter 3inade%uate voter list4 and the maneuvering done y aspirants of Distri!t and +rovin!ial posts !reated issues &ith the ele!ted odies' d' The rivalries, groupings and personal animosity generated y the ele!toral pro!ess, did not end &ith ele!tions' Due to the very short time et&een the I+9 and ;eneral 9le!tions, it very seriously affe!ted the unity and enthusiasm of +TI, in the party ranks, during the general ele!tion'

The plus side of the I+9 &as-7

a' Never in the history of the su !ontinent has a politi!al party !ondu!ted genuine intra party ele!tions' This &as a first and has had a huge impa!t on the politi!al !ulture of +akistan' ' +arty has made a reakthrough in organi)ing itself and has provided a lead to the other parties in institutionali)ing the politi!al parties'

Re!ommendations
$4 I+9 should never e planned near the ;eneral 9le!tions' I+9 should e at least one year efore the ;eneral 9le!tion'

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
"4 The party !onstitution should e suita ly amended to take !are of the follo&ing issues-

a' The eligi ility !riteria of e!oming a party mem er' <aving a large num er of uninterested mem ers is not ne!essarily a good option' Only a voting mem er should e eligi le to !ontext ele!tion'

' Only residents of the U'C should e eligi le for !ontesting in that U'C'

!' The issue of having to !ast do)ens of votes in the U'C ele!tions, should e sorted out, to ring it to managea le level, perhaps through a!kno&ledging the reality of panels i'e' panels should e allo&ed for U'C level ele!tions'

0' Rs' =##:7fees for U'C level ele!tion should e &ithdra&n

>' ?oter list should e re!onstru!ted &ithin a reasona le time frame and e availa le on the &e , to e !hallenged and !orre!ted, as an on going pro!ess' Confidentiality of mem er details has not paid off' +TI mem ers should e kno&n and e proud of their asso!iation &ith the party' 2en!e sitter &ill in any !ase ,oin and leave a!!ording to their advantage'

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
=' 9le!troni! voting, though attra!tive on paper, did not deliver effe!tively' / third party evaluation of the last experien!e should e done and a !riti!al evaluation of the short!omings e undertaken' *in!e +TI is a share holder in the !ell voting hard&are, it5s evaluation is ne!essary to use the asset effe!tively in the future' +assing all the lame on the ele!tion staff and 9C, &ill e rushing the matter under the !arpet' /fter third party evaluation, its performan!e e tested in a +ilot +ro,e!t efore using it again in the next I+9'

@' 2or the reason that it &as the first experien!e of the kind y any politi!al party and for reasons highlighted in the foregoing paragraphs, the I+9 &as not per!eived to e a perfe!t exer!ise' There is in some !ir!les !ontinuing resentment and disen!hantment &ith the ele!ted odies' *etting the tenures run to the full may not e re!ommended' +arty should deli erate re ele!tion at an appropriate time,in the not too distant a future'

A' /n innovative system should e introdu!ed to improve on the !urrent system of B&inner take allC to redu!e the intense grouping that is sure to develop after every I+9' One idea &ould e to have a +anel *ystem and giving the loosing panel share in the U'C offi!e earers proportionate to their votes'

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
D' International experien!e needs to e evaluated' <uman nature eing similar, more developed demo!ra!ies must have developed different systems to take !are of the pro lem of intense groupings after party ele!tions'

E' +arty Offi!e earers should not e allo&ed to !ontest the ;eneral 9le!tions' .em ers should de!ide &hether they &ant to e part of party ureau!ra!y or e part of the government' This &ill thro& up the enthusiasti! and B na)ariatiC !adre of the party to run the party'

TICK9T DI*TRI6UTION +ROC9**

The !onfusion, pressure for time and a fluid !hanging pro!ess of arriving at de!isions resulted in a num er of issues, most of &hi!h adversely effe!ted the party5s performan!e in the general ele!tion' *ome of these are-

0' In a predominant num er of !onstituen!y, not even the strongest of !andidates &as sure of getting the ti!ket until the last moment, !ompromising his position and reputation in the !onstituen!y'

>' The un!ertainty, apart from elittling them, sapped the enthusiasm:energy of those !andidates, &ho eventually got the ti!ket'

P.O. Box 1594, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: +92 51 227 0744 Fax: +92 51 2 7 ! 9!

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
=' 2alse allotment of ti!kets, &hi!h &ere &ithdra&n, in the middle of the !ampaign and in some !ases re7allotted, spread &idespread !onfusion and elittled the party5s management !apa ilities'

@' In a num er of !ases, !andidates &ere given their 8&ord5 y person in position a out ti!ket allotmentF They spent money on printing posters et! and started !ampaigning, only to e told that their ti!ket had een &ithdra&n' / num er of su!h people left the party and !ontinued their !ampaign as independent !andidates' This divided the party supporters and adly affe!ted party5s performan!e'

A' Due to a hapha)ard method, ea!h !andidate, &hether for .+/ or .N/, fought his o&n attleF &ith the result the final de!ision had no relevan!e to having .+/ !andidates !ompati le to the .N/ of the !onstituen!y' Resultantly the synergy so essential in the !ampaign of the .N/ !andidates &ho is in harmony &ith the .+/ Bunder himC &as la!king' In most !ases rather than supporting ea!h other, they even opposed ea!h other, resulting in the loss of oth'

D' *enior offi!e earers of other parties, &ho had a !lean reputation and &ere &el!omed into +TI, and &ho had staked their politi!al reputation to ,oin a party more in line &ith their moral values, &ere not given the respe!t they felt they deserved'

P.O. Box 1594, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: +92 51 227 0744 Fax: +92 51 2 7 ! 9!

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

E' The performan!e of C+6 &as rought into %uestion, &hen the list of 8invitedC mem ers e!ame un&ieldy &ith a host of un!on!erned parti!ipants''

$#' The de!ision to allot "= G seats to youth &as generally !onsidered !ounterprodu!tive, as most youth !andidates la!ked experien!e, resour!es, or kno&ledge of their !onstituen!y' In most !ases they did not even make this up, &ith running an aggressive !ampaign, expe!ted from youth'

Recommendations

0' (ast time hardly three &eeks &ere allo&ed for the party to de!ide party ti!kets for "A" N/ and =AA +/ seats' To de!ide, input &as taken from 3a4 an in house !ommittee lead y .r' /sheer Hohair 3 4 input of +rovin!ial +residents:+rovin!ial +arliamentary 6oard 3!4 input of mem ers of the C+6 and 3d4 input re!eived y Chairman dire!tly' *ynthesi)ing the many inputs takes time and e!ause of shortage of time, C+6 took in!orre!t de!isions' ' >' This mistake should not e repeated' The %uestion no& is ho& soon should the party de!ide the ti!kets' +arty often like to hold their !ards near their !hest, till the end, to have the option for the est' This has not

P.O. Box 1594, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: +92 51 227 0744 Fax: +92 51 2 7 ! 9!

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
&orked for +TI' The hunt for good !andidates should start No&, ased on 3a4 performan!e in "##D 4 4 enthusiasm for party 3e4 ele!t a ility'

=' To strengthen the party at the distri!t level there is no alternative to the Chairman himself visiting distri!ts, as fre%uently as possi le, ut not less than on!e in six months' In these meetings, as different from ,alsas, Chairman should meet =#:$## people in an en!losed spa!e and listen to the pro lems of the lo!al leaders and &orks' There is no re%uirement for the Chairman to make any formal spee!hF listing is more important for party strengthening' The lo!al s%ua les &ill inevita ly e aired in su!h

gatheringsF they have to e heard and !oordinated as est as possi le, y se!ond tier national leadership, &ho should assist the Chairman in these meetings'

@' / !onfidential hunt for potential !andidates in ea!h !onstituen!y should e undertaken through various means as soon as possi le, one of them !ould e hiring a spe!iali)ed private !ompany' Conta!t &ith the identified !andidates should e maintained y party leadership 3&ho ever is assigned the task4 to oth monitor and groom the potential !andidates' / strategy distri!t &ise should also e devised to attra!t good !andidates from other parties &ho fit the +TI profile'

P.O. Box 1594, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: +92 51 227 0744 Fax: +92 51 2 7 ! 9!

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
A' The pro!ess of party ti!kets allotment should start at least six months efore the ele!tions and ti!kets should e finali)ed not later than three months efore ele!tion date'

D' National /ssem ly !andidates should e sele!ted first and their input taken for sele!ting the +rovin!ial /ssem ly !andidates under him'

E' +oli!y for ti!kets for youth should e revie&ed' No minimum limit of ti!kets to any !ategory e announ!ed' .erit in ea!h !ase should e determining fa!tor for ea!h !onstituen!y, &hile est effort should e made to en!ourage young people'

$#' / +TI lead person e appointed, at least one for ea!h !ivil division, to handle the politi!al fall out of ti!ket a&arding and damage !ontrol, to minimi)e the num er of opponents, spe!ially those &ho turn hostile at not eing given the ti!ket' This should e done near the ele!tions, efore the start of ti!ket distri ution pro!ess'

$$' 9le!ted +resident of Distri!t should e !o7opted in the C+6 for sele!tion of !andidates of his distri!t '

./(/D.INI*TR/TION:CORRU+TION /ND IT* I.+/CT ON 9(9CTION*

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
9ven7though the RC &as set up to look into the !andidate5s evaluation pro!edure for a&ard of ti!kets and look into !auses that adversely affe!ted the performan!e of the party, apart from en%uiring into allegations of !orruption and mis!ondu!t, most people &ho !onta!ted us or appeared efore the Revie&

Commission had only !orruption on their minds' They thought that &as the iggest fa!tor &hi!h harmed the party

*in!e no su stantive eviden!e of finan!ial !orruption &as produ!ed, the Revie& Commission did not deem it ne!essary to !all the persons !omplained against to ans&er !harges' Ihile it !an e said that &here there is smoke there is ound to e fire, it !an also e said the people in our !ountry, are prone to

exaggerating, espe!ially against those &ho have hurt them' In some !ase the hurt is parti!ularly nastyF espe!ially &here it happens after intense friendship, hurting the other party then e!omes a matter of honor'

Ihile the leadership of the party is &ithin its right to form any opinion on the matter, the Revie& Commission does not feel !ompetent to pass ,udgment on anyone &ithout !redi le eviden!e'

Recommendations

$' / *tanding Committee on Dis!iplinary .atters should e set up to !onsider !ases of !orruption, dis!ipline et!' The *; should e the

P.O. Box 1594, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: +92 51 227 0744 Fax: +92 51 2 7 ! 9!

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
authori)ed person to send su!h !ases, &hi!h he feels re%uire ad,udi!ation, to the *tanding Committee' The *tanding Committee should re!ord eviden!e, in the presen!e of the a!!used, &ho should have right to !ross examine, efore sending their verdi!t to the *;, &ho should then de!ide the punishment' Depending on the &ork load, there !an e more than one *tanding Committee'

"' The !ase of +resident 2aisala ad e put up efore the *tanding Committee on Dis!iplinary .atters for deli eration'

0' /lthough there &as a lot of !ommotion in the party on !orruption after the I+9, almost no one rought for&ard any !on!rete eviden!e' This is also e!ause most !orrupt persons are !areful not to leave any trail' It is ,therefore, re!ommended that the general reputation of the mem ers should e given due importan!e in future de!ision making'

>' /!tion should also e take against persons &ho are found making false allegations' Ot!e" #acto"s a##ectin$ %a"t& %e"#o"mance

There are a num er of other fa!tors, &hi!h are responsi le for less than expe!ted performan!e' *ome of these are external and other internal' They are-

P.O. Box 1594, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: +92 51 227 0744 Fax: +92 51 2 7 ! 9!

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

9J9RN/( $' There is a great deal of ane!dotal eviden!e that +.(N in +un,a used the state ma!hinery to rig the ele!tion &herever it !ould' This is orne out y the fa!t that it has stoutly resisted any attempt to do iometri! re!ounting in +un,a !onstituen!ies' "' N manipulated 6iradari and !ast politi!s in +un,a mu!h etter than +TI' It &as parti!ularly su!!essful in roping in lo!al influential &ho used there !lout to influen!e the ele!tions'

INT9RN/( $' 6e!ause of inordinate delay in finali)ing ti!kets a num er of good !andidates left and ,oined other parties or preferred to !ontest as independents to o viate the insult of eing refused the ti!kets on the last moment' "' *ome good !andidates played one party against the other in giving them the ti!ket and left +TI in a lur!h leaving +TI &ith very fe& options'

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
0' /ll !andidates had to &ait efore eing a&arded the ti!ket, right at the last moment, leaving the minimum time to !anvas for their !andidature' >' The youth &ere also given a high G of ti!kets, &ere not kno&n in their !onstituen!ies and also did not have their resour!es to spend on pu li!ity or area to mo ili)e the volunteers' =' *ele!tion of ti!ket holders &as made on individual ases and very rarely as a team, in &hi!h .N/ and .+/ !andidates &ere not on the same &avelength' This deprived the party of the synergy that !andidates of other parties normally pay attention to' Recommendations

$'

/n exer!ise for pre7%ualifi!ation of !andidates for party ti!ket should e

done to assess &hether their past re!ord is in line &ith the %ualifi!ation a!!epta le in the Constitution of +akistan e'g' /rti!le @"7@0'The other information like edu!ation, &ork history et! should only e for information of the C+6 'It should not e %uantified or given grading' "' /dvisory ;roup !ompromising experien!ed politi!ians of the party e set

up formaly, either Region &ise or for more than one Region, to make their re!ommendations, ased on the &inning potential of !andidates in ea!h !onstituen!y' This /dvisory ;roup &ould e in addition to the re!ommendations of the ele!ted party hierar!hy'

P.O. Box 1594, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: +92 51 227 0744 Fax: +92 51 2 7 ! 9!

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

0'

/n assessment of finan!ial resour!es of the !andidate should e made to

see his resour!efulness, spe!ially &here party &ill e una le to make a signifi!ant !ontri ution to the !andidate5s !ampaign fund'

P.O. Box 1594, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: +92 51 227 0744 Fax: +92 51 2 7 ! 9!

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Nationa' Cam%ai$n

Ta(dee'i Ra)a*a" P"o$"am The performan!e of the Ta deeli Ra)akr 3TR4 &as !riti!i)ed y most !omplainants &ho appeared efore is' Their main !omplaint &as that TRs &ere no&here to e seen on the ele!tion day' It &as a pro,e!t &ith a lot of hype ut performan!e on the ground &as poor' / total of $A=### TRKs &ere registered' They &ere all volunteers, &ho &ere also involved in their o&n ,o s: usinesses ,so !ould not e expe!ted to give full time to +TI' The only physi!al thing they got out of the party &ere the printed letters of IK to e delivered to the voters' / proposal to provide them party !aps, to give them a sense of elonging &as not a!!epted due to finan!ial !onstraints' To us it appears that a good idea &as poorly exe!uted, due to an unrealisti!ally un&orka le time frame of seven &eeks, to re!ruit, train and provide a huge for!e of volunteers, at not only the village level ut also the polling station level' It &as to say the least an over optimisti! exer!ise, &hi!h had raised people5s expe!tation due to hype !reated through the media'

Recommendations
$' The TR s!heme should e revie&ed and re7laun!hed after studying the short!omings of the past' "' T'R should e the party5s foot soldiers positioned to help the party5s !andidates during the general ele!tions' 2or this, spe!ial effort and

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
planning should go in to ensure !oordination et&een the !andidates and the TR, la!king last time 0' 2unds should e allo!ated to provide party sym ols to the TR B like B!aps et!C and also per7diem for the ele!tion day' /mount should e enough to add to their existing motivation and su ,e!t them to dis!ipline, re!eive training and ensure !ontinued presen!e until !ounting is finished, on the ele!tion day' These funds !ould e provided y the !andidate, ut the party should ensure that they are a!tually dis ursed ' >' +arty top leadership in!luding U'C, +resident, +rovin!ial +residents should e allo!ated geographi!al areas, to ensure that they !ampaign effe!tively to support party !andidates, in area allo!ated to them' Campaign Offi!e should !oordinate the politi!al a!tivity et&een the leaders and !andidates' =' +arty should devise a system to ensure that ea!h !andidates has done ade%uate &ork on his o&n, to re!ruit, train and motivate +olling /gents and this fa!et is not eing negle!ted' @' TR5s num ers and !apa ility needs to e spe!ially assessed to ensure no !onfusion o!!urs et&een &hat the TR5s are a le to do and &hat the !andidates &ill do'

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

Women Seats
The issue of &omen seat allo!ation has generated a lot of heat and ad lood amongst prominent female mem ers of the party' It &as an issue regarding &hi!h a num er deponents, mainly !on!erning +un,a , appeared efore the RC and pleaded their !ase passionately

It appears to us that there are a fe& fa!tors &hi!h fuelled the issue of &omen reserve seats of +un,a ' 3a4 No one in the party took the issues of &omen seats seriously, as there &ere far more pressing issues, likely ti!ket distri ution for regular seats, national !ampaign, et!' in the month of .ar!h "#$0' 3 4 The Central +arliamentary 6oard, &hi!h had given itself the task of de!iding !andidates for D>E N/ L +/ seats in the !ountry, did not itself find time and priority to de!ide the pre!eden!e order of &omen reserve seats 3!4 3d4 Neither &omen !andidates nor the party leadership kne& the rules and regulations a out these seats' Iomen &ho &ere do&n in the pe!king order in the lists su mitted, did not rea!t violently efore the ele!tion , as most of them &ere expe!ting more seats than the party ultimately got and their disappointment set in &hen they reali)ed they had missed the opportunity e!ause they &ere lo&er in the list'

P.O. Box 1594, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: +92 51 227 0744 Fax: +92 51 2 7 ! 9!

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