Daily Times

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday dismissed the demand for the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner, maintaining that elections were held in a fair and transparent environment.

Addressing the press, ECP secretary Babar Yaqoob urged political parties to respect the mandate of the Pakistani people, insisting that it was a violation of the basic principles of democracy to oppose the election outcome without any substantial grounds.

“Voters exercised their right to franchise in a free and fair atmosphere. It is against the basic principles of democracy to disrespect the Pakistani people’s mandate without any reason, or for politically motivated reasons.”

The ECP secretary said that the commission had not received any complaints of rigging from anywhere in the country, and urged political parties and losing candidates to adopt the due process in raising their concerns over the results of the polls.

Despite the European Union Election Observation Mission’s (EU EOM) statement that the electoral process on July 25 was not as good as in the 2013 polls, the ECP secretary insisted that international observers had declared the polls free and fair. He also ignored the Mission’s observation that a level playing field was not ensured for all parties in the run up to the polls, and dismissed claims that political parties were not given a fair environment to campaign for elections. “All necessary steps were taken to ensure equal campaign opportunities for all parties,” he said, adding that on PML-N’s request, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was refrained from arresting the party’s candidates while the election campaign was underway. Yaqoob also said that the ECP had taken ‘immediate notice’ of incidents where hurdles were created in campaigns of candidates, and taken remedial steps.

Regarding the delay in transmission of results, the ECP secretary said that notices seeking explanation had been served to the returning officers and the district returning officers. Earlier, the commission had attributed the delay to a technical glitch in the ECP’s Results Transmission System (RTS) software.

The ECP secretary lauded the participation of women as voters as well as candidates on general seats. He said the commission had ordered re-polling in certain constituencies where the turnout of women voters was less than the mandatory 10 percent requirement. These constituencies include NA-39 (DI Khan-II), NA-10 (Shangla), and NA-44 (Tribal Area-V).

Further, Yaqoob said that the election watchdog had also taken steps to give the public easy access to election results and other information regarding polls by uploading it on its website and by running informative advertisements on the media.

He thanked the judiciary for providing ROs and DROs for elections, as well as the armed forces for providing security, and expressed the hope that ‘all parties would respect state institutions and work towards strengthening the democratic process in the country’.

Barring the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) that has emerged as the majority party in the National Assembly, all major political parties had raised allegations of widespread rigging in the July 25 polls. An All-Parties Conference (APC) attended by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the five party alliance Mutahhida Majlis Amal (MMA) had agreed to consider boycotting the Parliament. However, the option was later dropped in support of a joint opposition front in the Parliament, also including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Published in Daily Times, August 1^st 2018.