ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday voiced concern over the inordinate delay in the announcement of election results, alleging that the regime was holding back those to make last minute manipulation.
The alleged rigging, according to PPP Acting General Secretary Mian Raza Rabbani, was carried out in three different phases — before, during and after polling.
“It has already been exposed to the whole nation, and the election held by the regime has lost all of its validity,” Mr Rabbani told a press conference at the party secretariat here on Friday evening.
The party would, however, accept the results under protest and would play its role in carrying the democratic process forward, he said.
He ruled out the possibility of entering into any understanding or cooperation with the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), known as “King’s party”, for the overt support of administration and government to that party.
“That is not in the realm of the possibilities,” said Mr Rabbani on a question whether there was any possibility of the People’s Party Parliamentarians forming a coalition government with the PML(Q).
But he said the doors of the PPP were open to all the political forces that believed in the democratic process and the Constitution.
He did expressed party’s willingness to cooperate with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) who stunned the political observers by sweeping in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP).
“We are ready to talk with any political party which abides by the Constitution and democracy,” he said.
Commenting on the results, he said that in the constituencies where the PML(Q)-backed candidates returned, the polling percentage remained between 45 to 50. Whereas in the areas from where the PPP or PML(N) candidates won the election, the turnout rate was as low as 25 to 30 per cent.
He said this peculiar pattern that emerged from the elections strengthened their suspicions of the post-polls rigging and manipulation of the results through changing of the ballot boxes.
On the surprising success of the MMA candidates, he said it was partly the reaction of the anti-Musharraf sentiments. He said the regime kept a ban on the political activities, and, through duality in the application of law, a political vacuum was created in the country.
“The political vacuum always serve as a breeding ground for the ethnic and sectarian forces,” he added.