Pakistan: election in disarray

Written by David Fletcher 26 Jul 2018
Pakistan: election in disarray

Pakistan’s election results are in doubt, with the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League (PML) rejecting the result amid widespread allegations of ballot rigging in favour of Imran Khan’s PTI party. With most of the votes counted, Khan’s party is in the lead, but the results have not yet been confirmed. The election was marred by violence, with 31 killed by a bomb at one polling station. The PML leader said his party’s polling agents had been evicted from dozens of stations by security officials before a final tally, so they were unable to monitor potential tampering. In fact almost every party except the PTI said their polling agents had been excluded from polling stations. For the first time ever, no Christian candidates were picked by the mainstream parties for the national assembly, so Christians will be bereft of a voice whoever wins. Khan said he will not change the blasphemy laws, rather he will ensure they are enforced. The blasphemy law is a discrimination tool for persecuting Christians.

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