Opposition to protest ‘electoral fraud’

An alliance of 11 opposition political parties in Pakistan announced yesterday that they will be holding demonstrations across the country to protest alleged electoral fraud during the July 25 general elections.

The first of the protests by the alliance, that includes former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party, has been planned for Wednesday (August 8) in the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistan People’s Party led by Bilawal Bhutto, the regional Awami National Party as well as an alliance of five religious parties, Muttahida Majlis-e-Alam, will also take part in the protests.

“Our first protest will be outside the Election Commission in Islamabad in which ticket holders, elected candidates and party workers will participate,” Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed of the PML-N told Efe

The first of the protests, which will include PML-N, has been planned for August 8 in Islamabad

news. The 11 parties of the alliance opposed to former cricketer Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party — who won the elections amid accusations of electoral rigging — will also demonstrate on Thursday outside provincial Election Commission offices across the country.

“The opposition parties have made a grand alliance with the name of Pakistan Alliance for Free and Fair Election. It’s a 11-party alliance which will protest against the rigging,” said Syed.

The announcement came a day after Khan’s party struck an alliance with a regional party to come to power in the centre.

The polls were only the second one in the country’s history wherein an elected government completed its entire term and made way for a new government to be chosen.