ISLAMABAD: Pakistani officials said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has completed the training of about 1.49 million officials who will perform duties during the upcoming general elections on February 8.
In a statement, the ECP spokesperson said that the training sessions enhanced the capability of election officials to carry out their duties “proficiently and professionally”.
The spokesperson said that around 27,676 sessions were conducted across the South Asian country over 87 days. The training sessions were carried out by 3,821 master trainers.
Pakistan Election 2024: 1.5m Officials to Perform Election Duties
The training sessions initiated on November 19, 2023 and concluded on February 3, 2024. The participants who also completed the training included around 144 District Returning Officers, 859 Returning Officers, and other polling staff.
About of 7,663 two-day training sessions were conducted to train 191,526 polling staff, including both Presiding Officers and Senior Assistant Presiding Officers, local media reported. Similarly, 19,630 training sessions were carried out for 785,060 APOs and Polling Officers.
The spokesperson of the ECP said that to guarantee transparent, free, and fair polls, 32 Regional Monitoring Coordinators and 1,336 District Monitoring Officers were also appointed at the regional level to oversee election process in accordance with Section 234 of the Election Act, 2017. Adequate training was provided for Monitoring Officers as well.
The ECP conducted 148 training sessions to enhance the operation of the Election Management System (EMS), engaging about 5,000 officers and data entry operators linked with returning officers.
The spokesperson further added that around 1,400 officials were also trained for security duties during the elections in the country.
