Guidelines for PTI overseas intra party elections

PTI NORWAY Elections 2015

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Contents:

1)

Paid Membership Process

2)

Voter Eligibility

3)

Elections Process
I. Demarcation
II. Elected positions
III. Format of elections
IV. Candidates eligibility to contest in intra-party elections
V. Nomination process & fees

4)

Code of Conduct for Elections

5)

Election Commission
I. Role & responsibilities
II. Contact details

6)

Conflict Resolutions Committee (CRC)

I. Role & responsibilities
II. Contact Details

7)

Complaints Procedure

8)

Procedure of SMS voting

9)

Elections Schedule and key dates

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1)

Paid Membership Process

a. You must be 18 years old or above to become a paying member of PTI.
b. All membership data must be entered using the electronic online form
provided on insaf.pk. (Paper forms are no longer accepted).
c. Membership fee is fixed equivalent to:
i.

36 Euro or equivalent per year per person (Year starts from the
date of elected body taking over its office)

ii.

12 Euros per year for students (copy of valid student card is

required)

Note: The fee is payable in full and is accepted under the understanding
that it is a donation to the party.
d. Payments for memberships can be made using a credit card; debit card;
PayPal; Western Union or bank transfers. Cash payments are strictly
prohibited and are no longer accepted. In case of making a payment using
electronic transfer, bank deposit or Western Union, it will be members
responsibility to use the membership number - emailed to them after
online registration as reference when submitting funds.
e. Family membership is available for those families who have more than
one member interested to sign-up and would like to register together as
members. Family membership is only available to immediate family
members who are over the age of 18 and residing at same address. Paid
members those who sign-up using family membership option, can either
vote together or opt-in to receive separate text messages. For example, if
there are three paid members on one family membership they can either
receive one text message to the mobile number provided to cast all three
votes together or opt-in to receive separate messages for voting purposes.
To opt-in to receive separate messages, each family member must email at
membership@finance.insaf.pkand provide a valid mobile number along
with their membership number.

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f. Every member must ensure that a valid mobile number is provided at

registration stage as voting will take place via text messages.
g. Any membership issues must be addressed to the Election Commission
PTI NORWAY.

h. It is members responsibility to specify if he/she would like to share his/her

contact details to be shared with contesting candidates or not during
registration. Election Commission shall not share contact details with
contesting candidates unless advised otherwise.
i. To ease payment method, a member who does not have a credit card or
PayPal account can ask someone else to pay on his/her behalf, however a
limit of 4 membership fees payment by any one person will be placed to
prevent bulk membership registration.
2)

Voter Eligibility
To vote in a PTI NORWAY intra-party election a person must become a
registered paid member before the announced membership cut-off date.

3)

Elections Process
I.

Demarcation
Previous demarcation for purposes of elections in NORWAY was based on
regions. And, each region was required to have at least 100 paid members
to qualify to elect their respective bodies/panels. However, due to
concentration of paid membership in only one region and failure of other
regions to recruit 100 or more members, Election Commission has decided
to have election for national body ONLY for 2015 intra-party elections.

II.

Elected positions
PTI NORWAY National Body shall consist of a President, Vice President,
Information Secretary and General Secretary.

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III.

Format of elections
Elections will be contested in panel format. Each panel must have a
candidate for four positions including President, Vice President, General
Secretary and Information Secretary. Panel names must not contain the
words PTI, Insaf, etc...

IV.

Candidates eligibility to contest in intra-party elections

Any Pakistani origin legally residing paid member with sound character
and without criminal record is eligible to contest intra-party elections.
Residential address proof, utility bills, bank account statement of the
region, where candidate intends to contest or hold official designation, will
suffice for the qualification of a candidate.

V.

Nomination process & fees

a. The election commission will make nomination &self-declaration forms
available to download from www.insaf.pkfor all contestants. All candidates
must submit completed nomination & self-declaration forms along with
their profiles, elections manifesto no later than the nomination cut-off date
(see key dates for more information).
b. There will be a nomination fee of 100 Euros for position of President and
50 Euros each for positions of Vice President, Information Secretary and
General Secretary. All candidates must ensure that a valid proof of fee
submission into official PTI bank account must be attached to above
documents listed in point a.
c. No nomination papers will be accepted after the cut-off date.
d. Contesting panels can request election commission to send their profiles to
all paying members for purposes of their election campaign.

4) Code of Conduct for Elections

The code of conduct for the PTI NORWAY elections is for all members in
general and membership coordinators in particular. All concerned are
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asked to read it thoroughly and strictly abide by it. Any individuals or

collective act against the code of conduct below will result in immediate
disqualification from the election process. The Election Commission will
implement this code of conduct strictly to its letter and spirit.
a. After membership has been closed no gatherings or meetings should take
place for membership drive, any public contact should be initiated during
allocated campaign time.
b. There should be no self-announced bodies or committees, it should be clear
that all communication will be from OIC and Election Commission via
www.insaf.pk.
c. Until elections results are not published no unauthorised press releases or
any member/coordinator will allow media interaction related to election
results. This rule will be strictly enforced and any potential candidate
found to be violating would be risking their nomination.
d. All election candidates and members should not indulge in corrupt
practices, vote buying, threats of violence will not be tolerated.
e. None of PTI leadership should be invited to NORWAY during the election
period; the organisers will be responsible if any group invites any central,
regional or provincial leadership.
f. No financial inducement or inducement in kind may be offered to secure
support.
g. All members especially contestants must not take such actions which
would bring disrepute to the party i.e. personal attacks; maligning tactics
and abuse.
h. Wining panel must have at least 50% votes turn out of the total registered
voters to validate the elections.
i. In case, if there is only one panel, YES and NO SMS policy will be used
and the winning panel must secure 50% as yes.

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5) Election Commission
I. Role & responsibilities
Role of Election Commission:
Election Commission shall ensure free and fair intra-party elections are
held and equal level playing field is provided to all eligible contestants.
Responsibilities of Members of Election Commission:
All members of election commission shall be equally responsible to:
a. Ensure paid-membership process defined by Office of International
Chapters is adhered to during membership campaign.
b. Verify voting list by scrutinising through sample testing or any other
means deemed necessary.
c. Published verified membership lists as per defined guidelines.
d. Scrutinise contestants nomination papers and ensure they fulfil eligibility
criteria.
e. Handle any complaints during membership or nominations process and
make equitable decisions.
f. Oversee the SMS voting process on elections day and, do spot checks if
necessary on actual votes.
g. Announce results
h. Make sure all data handled by them during elections is treated with strict
confidentiality and not shared with any irrelevant person or body within
or outside the party.
i. Get Guidelines for Elected Body signed by contesting candidates well
before the election results
j. All notifications must go through OIC for publication on Insaf.pk.

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k. In case of disagreement within EC, majority vote will be considered as

final decision.
II. Contact details
PTI NORWAY members or potential candidates can contact Chief or
members of election commission regarding any elections related queries on
elections@insaf.pk.
EC members contact details are:
Mr. Ata MUHAMMAD (Chief EC)

atamuhammad@gmail.com

Mr. Farhat Faheem(member)

ffaheem.pti@gmail.com

Mr. Riaz Hassan (member)

riazh72@yahoo.com

Please note no other form of communication will be accepted or responded

to, therefore, please use ONLY these contact details for any queries you
may have.
6. Conflict Resolutions Committee (CRC)
I. Role & responsibilities
Conflict Resolution Committee will address all post-elections complaints. All
complaints must be submitted to members of CRC on elections@insaf.pk with
proper subject. All complaints will be acknowledged and resolved within 1
week from the date of complaint submission. Below are contact details of
CRC members.
II. Contact details
Mr. Mushtaq Khan

(Member)

a.mushtaq@gypex.fr

Mr. Tariq Mir

(Member)

tariqmir66@gmail.com

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Please note no other form of communication will be accepted or responded to,

therefore, please use ONLY elections@insaf.pk or in case the above contact
details for any post-election complaints you may have (in written).
7. Complaint Procedure
a. If any member/contestant wishes to register a complaint against any
candidate it must be done in writing via email to any of the election
commissioners.
b. All complaints must come with credible proof, as no allegations will be
considered without proof. Anyone making baseless allegations will be
potentially risking disciplinary action.
c. The Chief Election Commissioner will handle all complaints, and as per the
party rules his decision will be final.
d. All valid complaints will be acknowledged and given a response within 48
hours.
e. No complain will be entertained if addressed to unauthorised personnel.
Autonomy and respect of each institution is a must.
8. Procedure of SMS voting
a. On polling day, paid members will receive a SMS on their registered mobile
phone numbers containing the details of contesting panels. Each panel will be
allocated a 2-digit code and members will have to reply to the SMS using the
code allocated to their choice of panel.
b. Example of SMS is given below:
c. For panel ABC led by Mr John Smith reply 58
Or
d. For panel XYZ led by Mrs Fiona Gould reply 62
e. A confirmation text will be sent once vote is successfully received by the
system. If you do not receive a text message confirmation within 30 minutes
of voting please contact at m.iqbal@ki4.co.uk.

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a. Our system will notify us about all those mobile numbers, which fail to
receive the SMS due to network problem. In this instance, we will
resend the text and, if required will contact the members and provide
instructions on how to cast their votes.
b. Helpline will be made available for members to call if they have any
issues. (Helpline number will be announced later.)
c. Members, who are travelling abroad and wish to receive voting SMS on
an alternative number, need to notify Election Commission at least 48
hours before polling day about the changes. Election Commission will
be unable to make changes to the database thereafter.
d. Any members those who sign-up through family membership and
would like to vote individually/separately, must provide separate
mobile number for each member at registration stage or by emailing at
least 48h hours before polling day at m.iqbal@ki4.co.uk. If individual
numbers are not provided then system will allocate the same vote
choice to all members as selected by the lead family member. For
example, if family lead votes for a panel and, there are no mobile phone
numbers held for the rest of the family members then the same panel
choice will be applied to rest of family membership.
e. If member replies with something that does not match with any
available/valid 2-digit code of panels, he/she will be contacted by
election commission and asked to clarify.
f. Election Commission will not accept any requests to change vote once a
member casts his/her vote.
g. PTI NORWAY Election Commission will coordinate with PTI
International Finance Board for technical support, which includes
administration of paid membership; voting list and polling via SMS.
h. Members,

who

are

in

abroad,

must

contact

Finance

Board

(m.iqbal@ki4.co.uk) for their vote casting and follow the procedure.

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i. Web voting is possible for those who did not receive the SMS; they are
required to contact Finance Board immediately for assistance and
instructions for online voting after a security check.

9. Elections Schedule and key dates

Task
Membership cut-off date

Date
20-03-2015

Publication of verified membership list 24-03-2015

Nomination forms & self declaration 25-03-2015
form made available
Deadline for Nominations

28-03-2015

Announce contesting panel

31-03-2015

Deadline for any complaints & queries

03-04-2015

Announce voting codes for panels

07-04-2015

Election Day

10-04-2015

Results

11-04-2015

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