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Amid rigging claims by opposition political parties owing to the slow pace of announcement of results from Karachi, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged in the lead of the second-phase of local government elections in Sindh, with unofficial results suggesting its mayor will be appointed in Hyderabad.
Thus far, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has only released the results of 80-odd union committees of the 246 being contested in Karachi. Of these, the PPP has won 46; the Jamaat-e-Islami 22; Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 14; Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) 3; Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) 2; and one each for the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) and an independent candidate.
In Hyderabad, unofficial results showed the PPP winning 27 of 160 union committees in nine towns compared to the PTI’s nine; and one each for the JI and an independent candidate.
Worryingly for the PTI, its candidate for mayoral slot, Khurram Sher Zaman, lost his seat in Saddar to the PPP’s Najmi Alam. However, with more than half the results in Karachi still pending, it is still anyone’s game and political parties have already started to threaten unrest if the results do not match up to their expectations.
Speaking with media on Monday afternoon, Sindh Election Commissioner Ejaz Anwar Chauhan urged the public and contesting parties to exercise patience, noting that data needed to be tabulated from thousands of polling stations. “Each union council consists of four wards and around 20 polling stations, and the final result of a UC remains incomplete if a result sheet of even one polling station is left,” he said, adding that each returning officer is responsible for at least five UCs, which is causing a delay in releasing official results.
Vowing that results for all 246 union committees of would be issued by evening, he said the process for preparing Forms 11 and 12 for each constituency required a lot of time and effort.
Despite this, both the JI and the PTI have alleged rigging, as has PPP ally in the center JUIF. Accusing the Sindh government of using delaying tactics to prevent polling officers from reaching stations, thereby delaying the start of voting, they said it was an attempt to manipulate the votes.
Speaking with media, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman claimed both the ECP and the Sindh government were involved in the rigging and demanded that the election results be issued. He urged the public to gather at polling stations across Karachi and demand results be issued. To this, Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab said it was unfortunate that the same people that had been protesting for polls were now protesting for the results.
Separately, before results were even issued, PTI leader Imran Ismail claimed his party had won the polls. As more results poured in and it became clear this was not factual, PTI’s Ali Haider Zaidi claimed results were being “changed” and the public mandate was not being respected.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan boycotted the polls due to its disagreement with delimitation and has claimed the low turnout has proven that the polls lack “moral value.” Addressing a press conference on Sunday, MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui claimed the nation had “rejected” pre-poll rigging in Karachi and Hyderabad. There has, as yet, been no official confirmation of the turnout witnessed during the polls.
Polling day
Voting commenced at 8 a.m. and continued till 5 p.m. without breaks, despite sporadic reports of clashes between political rivals. According to the ECP, several polling stations continued to vote until 6 p.m. or later, as anyone who was still queued up at 5 was allowed to submit their vote.
According to the ECP, it had set up 8,706 polling stations—with 4,990 in Karachi alone—for Karachi and Hyderabad, with over 8,000 of them declared “sensitive” or “highly sensitive.” There were 6,774 candidates in Hyderabad, contesting for 1,675 seats of chairmen, vice chairmen of union councils/union committees, and the general wards. In Karachi, 9,058 candidates contested 246 seats of chairman, vice chairman, and general member.
Seven candidates were unelected unopposed in Karachi, while 410 candidates were elected unopposed in Hyderabad division and 310 in Thatta.