By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS
London : The head of the European Union observer mission to the Pakistani elections says evidence of pre-poll manipulation is already causing “concerns at the moment” to the international community.
Robert Evans, a member of the European Parliament, said his “long-term observers” for the Feb 18 elections, who have been in Pakistan since December, have told him of several malpractices.
These include the possibility of polling stations being moved, disproportionate media coverage about President Pervez Musharraf and his Pakistan Muslim League (PML), a lack of confidence and transparency in the administration and restrictions on the number and size of big rallies – traditionally a big feature in South Asian elections.
“The rallies will be smaller in size and fewer in number, and people might not be going to hear their candidates in the numbers that they have done,” Evans told reporters Friday.
“But the biggest test will be whether those who are defeated can accept the defeat and get on with life. That’s going to be the challenge for President Musharraf, and I have already spoken to him about it – whether, indeed, someone like Musharraf can get along and work with a new prime minister who is from a different party than his.”
With former prime minister Benazir Bhutto having been assassinated and thousands of lawyers jailed late last year, “these are less than ideal conditions,” Evans said.
He said emergency evacuation plans have been drawn up for observers and other senior officials “if Pakistan were to blow up in the way that Kenya did. No one’s anticipating it, but they weren’t anticipating it in Kenya either”.
He said around 62 “long-term observers” have been working in pairs on the ground since December, and that they were joined by another 60 in the lead-up to the elections.
Evans also pointed to the importance of how the post-elections process plays out.
With opinion polls suggesting a three-way split among the two factions of the PML and Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party, observers were expecting “all sorts of complicated horse trading”.
Evans will announce the findings of his observer mission Feb 20.