EC promises fair elections

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s election commission Wednesday rejected allegations from leading opposition parties that January polls will be rigged, insisting that the vote will be free and fair. The body’s defence of its independence came amid claims by former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif that it is biased because it is appointed by President Pervez Musharraf.
The opposition leaders agreed to join forces on Monday and have now tasked their parties to compile a list of demands that they say the government must meet to stop their parties from boycotting the January 8 vote. “The Election Commission is a constitutional body and it is fully independent to hold free, fair and transparent polls,” the commission’s secretary Kanwar Dilshad told.
“The entire election exercise is absolutely free, fair and transparent,” he said. “More than 95 percent of polling stations will be in schools or government buildings, but in some areas where there is no proper building, polling stations are established in tents or some other premises,” Dilshad said. He said such a move was not new and that improvised polling stations would be set up in consultation with the contesting candidates.—Agencies