KARACHI, June19,2013 ( Filza Khurram / UPI Next) — A Pakistani election-monitoring group has backpedalled on some of the claims it made of voting irregularities in the aftermath of the country’s May 11 elections.
The Free and Fair Election Network, known as FAFEN, a network of 30 nongovernmental organizations engaged in election and governance oversight since 2006, deployed 41,000 observers to monitor polling stations nationwide, the biggest monitoring effort in Pakistan’s electoral history.
After the polls, which saw Pakistan’s first transfer of power from one civilian government to another, FAFEN made a series of claims of irregularities that have since landed the network in legal trouble. Sixteen legal complaints have been registered against its chief executive officer, Muddassir Rizvi.
In its May 13 “Preliminary Statement on the 2013 Election,” FAFEN described voting in some provinces as “relatively fair,” but also alleged there had been “incidents of irregularities, fraud and lax enforcement of election law and regulations before and on Election Day.”
Read more Pakistan election-monitoring group pulls back on some claims – UPI.com.
