The foreign observation

reports from foreign election observers serve to counter the allegations of systematic rigging by all losing parties

Not a clean chit though, the reports from foreign election observers serve to counter the allegations of a systematic poll-day rigging by almost all the losing parties. In the forefront are the right-wing parties which are trying to muster support for launching a movement to press for fresh elections. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the JUI-F, has even threatened a 1977-like agitation that led to the fall of the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government and paved the way for the martial law imposed by Gen Ziaul Haq. Mainstream parties, like the PML-N and the PPP, are non-committal so far, but are still on board.

The missions from the European Union and the Commonwealth Group did express reservations over quite a few things related to the polling process, but declared it in very clear terms that there were no meddling attempts on the polling day. The observers described the polling day as ‘orderly’ and said the troops deployed at polling stations did not meddle in the polling process, as blamed, and only assisted the presiding officers in the conduct of polls. The observation from the two foreign missions should clear all the doubts expressed about the poll-day rigging — something being cited as justification for hitting the roads in protest.

The foreign observers, however, pointed out several irregularities, besides expressing concern over “the environment in which the elections were held”. The instances pointed out in this context included violent attacks on election candidates and the absence of a level playing field in the pre-election phase. For observers though, “a systematic effort to undermine the former ruling party through cases of corruption, contempt of court and terrorist charges against its leaders and candidates” is a cause for ‘major concern’ — something that ”reshaped the political environment ahead of the elections”.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2018.

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