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More monitors join EU in
denouncing Pak polls

K J M Varma in Islamabad

Pakistan on Monday strongly refuted EU observers' statement that its general elections were "seriously flawed" even as the Pakistan Human Rights Commission and poll monitors from Asian countries joined the EU in criticising the conduct of this week's polls.

"The results cannot be described as wholly representative of the will of the electorate, although they do indicate the general directions of its preferences," the HRCP said in its report released in Islamabad.

"Not content with pre-poll manipulation of the electoral process, the administration seemed to have continued to tamper with it during the polling and afterwards," the HRCP said adding it decided to delay its interim report by a day as the election did not apparently end with the counting of votes.

"The changes occurring in the unofficially announced results have raised serious doubts about continuation of efforts to secure pre-determined results after the end of polling," it added.

Monitors from 11 Asian countries have also accused the government of undermining fairness of the electoral process.

"Some of the practices were serious enough to undermine the fairness of the elections," General Sayud Kerdhpol, head of a 42-member team of Asian Network for Free Elections, said in its report published in daily The News.

"Intimidation of candidates, biased amendments to the electoral framework, restrictive interpretation of campaign regulations prohibited a fair environment or equal opportunity for free and fair elections," ANFREL said.

However, the Pakistan government strongly defended its electoral process saying the EU mission's conclusion is "unfortunate and not true."

"This is just not true. There was no such policy or plan. In fact, the president of Pakistan had extended his personal pledge to the fairness and transparency of the electoral process and ensured the election observers, as well as the foreign media, were provided full and unfettered access to any part of the country," an official statement said.

Stating that the Pakistan Election Commission was an autonomous body with statutory powers to enforce electoral laws and prevent malpractice, it said the commission has done a reasonable job of organising a mammoth election for an electorate that had been enlarged to nearly 72 million because of lowering of voting age from 21 to 18.

PTI

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