2023 Elections Will Be Most Expensive In Pakistan's History Using EVMs: Report

2023 Elections Will Be Most Expensive In Pakistan's History Using EVMs: Report

• ECP estimates that surveys in 2023 will cost the Federal Chancellery more than 1,000 times more than in the last three parliamentary elections.
• The use of electronic voting for domestic and international voters is a significant part of the expense.
• The estimated cost of the next surveys is close to the budget allocated to the country's largest province, Balochistan, for the fiscal year 2021-22.

ISLAMABAD: With an estimated cost of Rs 424 billion for electronic voting for 133 million local voters and 10 million foreign voters, the next general election is likely to be the most expensive in Pakistan's history.

These are the consolidated estimates Geo News has collected from electoral regulators, including the Electoral Commission of Pakistan (ECP), federal and provincial governments, political parties, funders, NGOs and candidates.

According to an estimate by the ECP, the polls in 2023 will cost the federal government about 1000 times more than the last three parliamentary elections, which amounted to 28.6 billion rupees. Using electronic voting for domestic and international voters is a significant part of the cost.

In addition, the estimated cost of the upcoming surveys is close to the budget allocated to the country's largest province, Balochistan, for the fiscal year 2021-22, which was 584.1 billion rupees.

It is estimated that nearly 47 billion rupees will be spent on transportation, electoral practice, training, printing, allowances and security when the ECP is consistent with the traditional electoral method. But nearly Rs.230 billion will be spent on electronic voting machines (EVMs) and related expenses, while overseas voting is likely to cost Rs.100 billion, key stakeholders say.

The ECP will also have to pay 17 billion rupees for security arrangements as about 0.9 million security guards, including about 20,000 private guards, are deployed at polling stations. On election day, almost 50,000 surveillance cameras will also be installed in the polling stations.

Stakeholders say electoral authorities need approximately Rs.100 billion to spend on electronic voting tools reported for overseas voters. The final estimates will be made near the upcoming elections in 2023, according to stakeholders.

Pakistan spent around 22 billion rupees in the 2018 general election, 4.73 billion rupees in 2013 and 1.84 billion rupees in 2008, EKP officials say.

Experts who analyze the electoral economy say an additional Rs 600 billion will be incurred from candidates, supporters, financiers and media advertising. Experts have also predicted spending of 5,000 rupees per registered voter in 859 constituencies (directly elected seats in the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies) across the country.

Under the new electoral law, candidates can spend 10 rupees per voter (4 million rupees for an average voter pool of 400,000 for the National Assembly and 2 million rupees for about 200,000 voters in the provincial assemblies). Experts say that candidates and political parties, in general, spend much more and their expenses increase many times over while they run their campaigns.

There is a lot of confusion about how to use EVMs because no one knows the exact number of machines required and their manufacturing and operating costs. The ECP officials estimate that the electoral authority would need approximately 900,000 EVMs with three machines in each voting booth. ECP officials counted 121.2 million registered voters on November 4, 2021, and expected a 14% increase by October 2023, bringing the total number of registered voters to 133 million. The ECP plans to set up nearly 101,111 polling stations with 310,000 voting booths in the upcoming general election.

Three committees of the ECP deal with all of these matters, ranging from EVMs, electronic voting for foreign voters, administrative and legal matters to technical hurdles. The electoral authorities are examining some well-known companies such as Hart, ESNS, Dominion Voting Systems, Miru Indra and some local companies to see if there are any options for how the EVMs can be made and used. Including global players, the price will start at around $ 1,500 per EVM, while locally manufactured machines would cost around $ 1,000.

If Pakistan were to acquire 900,000 EVMs from a third party, experts estimate that each EVM would cost the US $ 1,500 (262,500 rupees), which combined would cost the treasury 230 billion rupees. Experts say that if Pakistan made EVMs locally it could cost a little more than $ 1,000 (rupees 170,000) per EVM, for a total cost of rupees 157 billion. The EKP officials also say that if a million foreign Pakistanis cast their vote, it would cost an additional 10,000 rupees per vote, for a total cost of 100 billion rupees.

Science and Technology Minister Senator Shibli Faraz told Geo News that they did their job after completing all of ECP's requirements for EVMs. Laws, discussions, procedures and necessary ridicules were exercised. Now it is the job of the ECP to take care of all the formalities for the use of EVMs in the upcoming elections, he said.

The ECP informed the Ministry of Science and Technology that EVMs should use direct electronic voting technology instead of electronic counting of paper ballots. The strengths of the current paper-based voting system, such as transparency, accountability and verifiability, must be maintained. EVM hardware and software should be auditable with a paper audit trail that can be checked by the voter. EVMs should be secure, accurate, reliable, and verifiable.

To date, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has received no instructions from the ECP to participate in EVMs or internet voting software for foreign voters.

It is not clear how the ECP will handle this enormous scale of the EVM project. The EVMs could also be purchased from some local manufacturers such as COMSATS, NUST or Telephone Industries Haripur or the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications with the help of a government agency, say experts.

Some foreign companies, especially Chinese companies, were interested in providing EVM-related technologies. Smartmatic, Securetec, Dominion Voting Systems, Hart InterCivic and Election Systems and Software could become providers of voting machines for advice and support during the elections.

Experts say these firms are capable of solving most problems including legal advice, software, certification support, and most importantly, introducing the technology in the field.

EVMs cannot be implemented in a short period of time because the risk of failure is too high, say experts. Several countries have failed in their attempts to implement the technology for several reasons for failure, from poor vendor selection to poor project management and inexperience.

Due to the short time frame, 5,000 voting machines per day have to be manufactured by every company in Germany and abroad. Interestingly, Pakistan has never tested this project in any way, either in field tests or in bogus elections.

Many people do not understand the complexities of using EVMs in Pakistan and have unrealistic expectations of holding the 2023 elections through the use of EVMs, observed Ahmed Bilal Mehboob.

The EVM issue could be challenged in court and it would take time to resolve litigation, he noted.