Guidelines for PTI overseas intra party elections

PTI UK & Ireland Elections 2015 - 2016

1 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

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

2 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

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 h
ttp://insaf.pk. (Paper forms are no longer accepted).
c. Membership fee is fixed equivalent to:
i. For UK, 36.00 GBP or equivalent per year per person (Year starts from
the date of elected body taking over its office)
ii. For Ireland, 3
6.00 Euro o
r equivalent per year per person (Year starts
from the date of elected body taking over its office)
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.
3 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

To opt-in to receive separate messages, each family member must email at

membership@finance.insaf.pk and provide a valid mobile number along with
their membership number.
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 of PTI
UK & Ireland.
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 U
K & Ireland i ntra-party election a person must become a registered
paid member before the announced membership cut-off date.

3) Elections Process
I. Demarcation
The PTI UK & Ireland elections will be held on regional basis and ONLY in the 13
regions enlisted below provided they have more than 100 paying members. No
other city, region or country will be included in the PTI U
K & Ireland e
lections.
1. NorthWest
2. North East
4 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

3. London
4. Southeast
5. Southwest
6. East Midlands
7. East of England
8. Yorkshire and Humberside
9. West Midlands
10. Wales
11. East Scotland (Edinburgh and Surrounding)
12. West Scotland (Glasgow and Surrounding)
13. Dublin Republic of Ireland
II. Elected positions
PTI UK & Ireland Regional Elected Body shall consist of a President, Vice
President, Information Secretary and General Secretary.
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.

5 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

V. Nomination process & fees

a. The election commission will make nomination & self-declaration forms
available to download from w
ww.insaf.pk for 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 1
00.00 GBP (UK) O
R 100.00 Euro
(Ireland) for position of President and 5
0.00 GBP (UK) OR 50.00 Euro
(Ireland) for e
ach 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 U
K & Ireland elections is for all members in
general and membership coordinators in particular. All concerned are 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.

6 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

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. Refrain from using any of official Social Media for individual or panel
propagation.
f. None of PTI leadership should be invited to U
K & Ireland during the election
period; the organisers will be responsible if any group invites any central,
regional or provincial leadership.
g. No financial inducement or inducement in kind may be offered to secure
support.
h. All members especially contestants must not take such actions which would
bring disrepute to the party i.e. personal attacks; maligning tactics and abuse.
i. Wining panel must have at least 50% votes turnout of the total registered
voters to validate the elections.
j. 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.

7 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

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 h
ttp://Insaf.pk.
8 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

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

final decision.
II. Contact details
PTI UK & Ireland members or potential candidates can contact any members of
election commission regarding any elections related queries on
ptiuk.irelandelections@gmail.com.
EC members contact details are:
1. Mr. Ahamad Jawad a
hmad.jawad@beyondthehorizon.com.pk
2. M

r. Muhammad Waqas m
wb77@hotmail.com
3. M

iss. Hina Qassam h

ina.kassam@gmail.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 e
lections@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
Note: The detail of the members of CRS will be provided later.

9 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

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

therefore, please use ONLY e
lections@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 Election Commissioner will handle all complaints, and as per the party
rules EC 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.
Note: 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:
For panel ABC led by Mr John Smith reply 58
Or
For panel XYZ led by Mrs Fiona Gould reply 62
10 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

c. 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.
d. 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.
e. Helpline will be made available for members to call if they have any issues.
Note: Helpline number will be announced later.
f. 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.
g. 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.
h. 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.

11 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

i. Election Commission will not accept any requests to change vote once a
member casts his/her vote.
j. PTI UK & Ireland E
lection Commission will coordinate with PTI International
Finance Board for technical support, which includes administration of paid
membership; voting list and polling via SMS.
k. Members, who are in abroad, must contact Finance Board (m.iqbal@ki4.co.uk)
for their vote casting and follow the procedure.
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 LIST

DEADLINE DATE

Membership cut off Date

17-05-2015

Publication of Membership List

24-05-2015

Nomination Forms & Self Declaration Forms Made Available

25-05-2015

Deadline for Nomination

31-05-2015

Announce Contesting Panel

01-06-2015

Deadline for Complaints & Queries

08-06-2015

Announce Voting codes for Panels

10-06-2015

Election Day

13-06-2015

Results

15-06-2015

12 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016

1 | PTI - UK & IRELAND - ELECTIONS - 2015 - 2016