US says wants Pakistan election fraud investigations ‘wrapped up as soon as possible’

ISLAMABAD: The United States wants to see investigations into the alleged irregularities of this month’s national polls in Pakistan wrapped up “as soon as possible,” a State Department spokesperson said this week, amid protests in the South Asian country against this month’s controversial elections. 

The Feb. 8 general elections in Pakistan were marred by a nationwide shutdown of mobile phone services and an unprecedented delay in the announcement of the results. Various political parties in the country, especially former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, have accused Pakistani authorities and the country’s election regulator of manipulating results to benefit other political factions. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the caretaker government have vehemently denied the allegations. Both have urged political parties to seek redressal of their grievances from the courts and relevant forums instead of taking the law into their own hands. 

Washington has repeatedly called on Pakistan to investigate rigging allegations and has raised concerns over restrictions on digital platforms. Pakistani social media users have only managed to access platform X intermittently since Feb. 17 when a senior government official made a public admission of manipulating votes in the elections, triggering a politically charged debate across the country.

“With respect to investigations into reported irregularities, we want to see those investigations proceed,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a media briefing on Monday. “We want to see them wrapped up as soon as possible.”

The general elections of Feb. 8 were not only controversial but also indecisive, as they concluded with no party emerging as a clear winner and strong enough to form a government on its own. Independent candidates backed by Khan’s PTI bagged the highest number of seats. 

However, as they were not allowed to contest polls from their party’s platform, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged as the party that bagged the most seats in the country, followed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Despite the rigging allegations, the PPP and PML-N have agreed to join forces to form a coalition government in the economically troubled country. 

 When asked whether Washington welcomed the formation of a new government in Pakistan despite the rigging allegations, Miller said it was a “Pakistani process led by Pakistanis,” adding that the US was “not a party to it.”

“We want to see a government move forward in a way that reflects the will of the Pakistani people,” he said. 

Protests against alleged rigging in Pakistan will be a cause for concern as the nuclear-armed country grapples with an economic crisis and rising militant violence.

Pakistan narrowly averted sovereign default last summer through a last-gasp $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the lender’s support ends in March, following which a new, extended program will be needed.

Negotiating a new program, and at speed, will be critical for the new government, which will take over an economy beset by record high inflation and slow growth caused by tough reforms.