Pakistan Election: Multi-party meet rejects results, demands transparent re-election

ISLAMABAD:A multi-party meeting which included the Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N) today rejected the result of the general polls alleging rigging and demanded a "transparent" re-election, threatening country-wide protests.

PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and Jamiat Uleme-e-Islam Fazal chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman jointly presided here the 'All Parties Conference', called to devise a joint strategy over the alleged rigging in the July 25 polls.

Mostly smaller political parties badly thrashed in the elections turned up for the meeting. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Pakistan did not attend it.

Rehman told media after the meeting that it was "not an election but selection" and the results were unanimously rejected by the parties attending the moot.

"It has been decided to reject the elections of July 25 because these elections are not based on the mandate of the people but the people have been robbed of their mandate," he said.

Referring to the victory Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), he said those claiming to have the right of representation of the people do not have this right.

"We demand that new elections should be held and we will hold protests in the country for new polls," he said.

However, the parties could not agree on a proposal to refuse to take oath of the membership of parliament due to non-commitment by PML-N. Sharif said that he would consult with his party over



the issue of oath and inform other parties about it.

Mutahida Majlis-e-Aml Pakistan, Awami National Party, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Qaumi Watan Party and some other smaller parties attended the meeting.

PML-N with 64 members and MMAP with 13 members are the main parties in the group. Rehman is also chief of MMAP and his tough stance was due to deep personal differences with Khan.

The two in the past have used strong words against each other.

So far, Khan was inching closer to form the government in Pakistan with his party bagging 118 of the 270 seats.

Khan's PTI was followed by jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N with 62 seats and former president Asif Ali Zardari's PPP with 43 seats.

Independent candidates have won 12 seats, according to the election commission which has so far issued results for 265 seats of the National Assembly.

Pakistan's National Assembly comprises a total of 342 members, of which 272 are directly elected.A party can only form the government if it manages to clinch 172 seats in total.

The chances of any major challenge to the PTI forming its government will be slim because the PML-N will not be ready to leave Parliament.

The groups have been already weakened as the PPP with 43 members has not joined them, apparently looking set to form the government in the Sindh Province and uninterested in protests.