Pakistan’s political parties reject election results

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan’s mainstream political parties have rejected the elections results terming the Wednesday’s polls “rigged.”

Addressing a news conference in northeastern Lahore city, Shehbaz Sharif, president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of the three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, said his party “totally” rejected the results, which suggested that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of former cricket star Imran Khan is going to form the next government.

Though, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has not announced the officials results, the projections suggest that the PTI is going to be the single majority party in the lower house -- the National Assembly.

“I have not seen this kind of elections during my entire political career. This is not election but selection,” Shehbaz, the three-time chief minister of the country’s largest Punjab province, said.

“Our polling agents are being kicked out. We are not being provided certified results by the election commission. This is an open rigging,” he charged.

“I want to warn that this type of actions will be detrimental for the national integrity and the democracy,” he maintained.

“This is a big blow to the democracy,” Shehbaz added.

Senator Mushahid Hussein, a central PML(N) leader alleged that the Wednesday’s elections were the “dirtiest” in the country’s political history.

“The whole exercise is aimed at bringing one party into power. The people of Pakistan will not accept that”, Hussain charged without naming the PTI.

Other political and religious parties, including center-left Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) , the five-party religious alliance Muttehida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Awami National Party (ANP), have also rejected the results.

Addressing a news conference, Sherry Rehman, the PPP leader and opposition leader in the Senate, leveled the similar allegations. 

“All the parties were being cornered just to favor one party -- the PTI,” she said.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the MMA chief, said he was going to call an all parties conference to devise a joint strategy against alleged rigging.

“We will not accept the rigged results,” he was quoted as saying by local broadcaster Geo TV. 

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the general secretary of ANP, has rejected the “manipulated and rigged results”.

"ANP will not accept the manipulated and rigged results of today’s elections," Husain told Anadolu Agency.

* Islamuddin Sajid in Islamabad contributed to this story.