United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has congratulated the Government and people of Pakistan on the successful conduct of national and provincial elections, hailing the polls, for which millions of voters turned out, as a major democratic step.

Eleven-year-old Mohamed Nasim, who is in sixth grade, wakes up at 5:30 every morning to take computer lessons in a makeshift classroom here in Borghaso village, Bamyan Province, northwest of Kabul. He draws a house in Microsoft Paint, colors it, and types his name in the corner as his young teacher watches over his shoulders. The back of Mohamed’s hands are dried and cracked by the cold weather.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC), Inter-University Consortium for Social Sciences and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Pakistan organized a dialogue on 18th Constitutional Amendment today at Higher Education Commission in Islamabad.

Islamabad, 29 March, 2013: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is preparing to train polling staff for the May 11 general elections with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). At the launch of its training program for master trainers, the ECP demonstrated the polling process which includes several new initiatives taken to increase transparency and public confidence in the elections.