ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday once again rejected international criticism of the election process, saying polls were an internal, sovereign affair of Pakistan.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch , while responding to multiple questions about international criticism and scrutiny of the 2024 general elections in the country held on Feb 8, at the weekly media briefing said the criticism was “neither constructive nor objective” and that “the election process in Pakistan is an internal sovereign affair of Pakistan”.

Several countries and blocs — particularly the US, UK and EU — have raised concerns about the fairness and transparency of the poll process, with allegations of pre-poll rigging, manipulation, and military interference marking the event as one of the most controversial in the country’s history.

Kirby expresses concern over ‘intimidation, voter suppression’ reports

There have also been calls for investigating the election irregularities. Even UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres asked for resolving electoral disputes through the country’s established legal procedures.

The Foreign Office had previously responded to the international criticism by defending the electoral process, emphasising the complexity of conducting elections amid security threats.

On Thursday, Ms Baloch called for focusing on the positives instead of harping on the shortcomings. “People of Pakistan have voted in 10s of millions and there were unprecedented number of women and young voters who participated in this exercise,” she maintained.

“Pakistan has shown its willingness to be transparent in the election process,” she further said referring to its acceptance of foreign election observers. A team of Commonwealth Observers was the most significant group of poll monitors. The European Union Election Observers Mission, which remained most prominent observers in some of the past elections, did not send a full sized mission this time.

But the FO spokesperson’s comments did little to pacify Washin­gton, as US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby expressed fresh concerns over reports of intimidation and potential voter suppression emanating from Pakistan, on Thursday.

He emphasized the importance of monitoring the situation closely but refrained from making definitive statements until the votes have been fully tallied.

Anwar Iqbal in Washington also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2024