Three days after the elections, allegations of rigging continue to pour in
KARACHI: Three days after the elections, allegations of rigging continue to pour in. In Pakistan those winning a general election claim it to be the most transparent ever held, whereas the losers deem it their fundamental right to accuse the election commission and their rivals of rigging and foul play.
However, for those who know even the basics of elections can easily figure out where the claims of rigging hold true and where they don’t. For instance, the PPP winning across Sindh while defeating those have been winning in the province for decades, adds much to the claims of the Grand Democratic Alliance who has figures as influential as PPP’s former minister Zulfikar Mirza and his wife, Fehmida Mirza, a former speaker of the National Assembly.
The report of the European Union Election Observer Mission or that of the Free and Fair Election Network is not enough, as the dirty poll game and the tactics employed go much deeper than what is seen or perceived at the surface.
Maidah Ashfaq
Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2018.
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