Shibli Faraz, leader of the opposition in Pakistan’s upper house of parliament (senate), praised India’s efficient electoral process and criticised his country for failing to hold transparent elections to ensure a peaceful transfer of power.
“An election has just taken place there. [in India]”More than 8 crore people voted. There were thousands of polling stations. Polling stations were set up even for people living in remote areas. The election lasted for a month and was conducted using EVMs. Not a single cry has been raised that the election was rigged. We want to move forward with the same,” Shibli Faraz told parliament in Islamabad.
Faraz, a member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, held multiple positions in the erstwhile Imran Khan-led government.
He also expressed frustration over the numerous infightings in Pakistan’s elections in which losing candidates refused to concede defeat.
Faraz argued that Pakistan’s poor electoral culture has led to a “hollowing out” of its political system, and questioned why the country is so unable to hold free and fair elections.
“This is due to the vested interests of all political parties, including the Muslim League and the MQM,” he said.
The Pakistani senator’s statement came after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won victory in India’s Lok Sabha elections.
In contrast, Pakistan’s February elections came after widespread unrest in the Islamic Republic. The elections, in which the PTI was barred from standing, were marred by allegations of fraud, the seizure of candidate papers, arbitrary arrests of candidates and supporters, denial of candidate papers, and the disruption of campaign events.
The Election Commission of Pakistan received 1,300 complaints, and election officials had not released results for some constituencies even days after the counting began.
The United Nations and other watchdog groups, including Human Rights Watch, have also pointed to what appears to be vote fraud in Pakistan’s pre-election period.
The role of the army and the preference for Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League over Imran Khan further He specifically pointed out allegations of election interference and fraud.
