Islamabad, Feb 15, 2008: Two days before the nation goes to polls, the Pakistan Peoples Party continues to express its growing fears about the transparency of the elections in the wake of independent reports suggesting intensified efforts to rig polls.
 
In Nawabshah, the biggest political party of Pakistan, the PPP was in for a shock when 9 polling stations of the constituency were switched days before elections in a move to add to the difficulties of the voters. Azra Fazal, sister of Senator Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP's candidate for NA 213 Nawabshah, said that each of the nine relocated polling stations has 2000 voters. "There is no way we can inform 18,000 voters about the new location of the polling stations at such a short notice." She added that when the ECP Karachi office was approached to take action, they said they have no control over the situation. "When we took our case to the High Court Hyderabad, we were told that they have no authority to rule over the petition. We have now taken the case to HC Karachi but with two days to go for elections, there is little possibility that our complaints will be redressed." Fazal informed that the switching of polling stations was done at the behest of the MQM. "The MQM actually produced a list of "troublesome" polling stations that needed to be fixed to manipulate the results in its favour."
 
Commenting on the continued instances of rigging, Sherry Rehman, Central Information Secretary Pakistan Peoples Party said that instead of allaying the PPP's concerns about rigging, the regime has stepped up its efforts to manipulate polls.

Reports regarding the printing of excess ballot papers stand out as the most important issue since it is a clear bid to hijack elections. Azra Fazal said that there are reportedly 20mn excess ballot papers. "There is no justification for going overboard with the ballot papers to such an extent. Even if there are 50 excess papers for each ballot book, the overall number of excess papers should not exceed one million," said Fazal.
 
Sherry Rehman asserted that increase in the number of ballot papers confirms her Party's observations that these excess ballot papers will be used to stuff ballot boxes with PML-Q votes. "The ECP's shameless confession regarding the printing of 20mn excess ballot papers does not absolve it of the responsibility to ensure that these papers are not misused. It is rather disturbing to note that the ECP candidly admits its wrongdoings but does nothing to rectify them."
 
Rehman also expressed concern regarding the recruitment of volunteers to guard the polling stations on the Election Day. "According to reports, the regime has recruited 15,000 volunteers in Sindh and 50,000 in Punjab to control the law and order situation. In the presence of police force and the troops, why is there a need for 65,000 volunteers to watch the polling stations." Rehman said that there was no transparency in the hiring procedure of these volunteers. "We don't know who these volunteers are and what is their political affiliation?. In fact, we don't even know if their role is to ensure security or deteriorate it," Rehman said, adding that according to her Party sources, the names of 3,000 out of the 15,000 volunteers hired in Sindh have come from the PML-Q. "Does that leave us with any reason to believe that these volunteers will merely supervise the security situation and not disrupt the voting process?"
 
Rehman reiterated her Party's stand that the PPP will not tolerate rigged elections. "The regime would do well not to test the limit of the patience of the public. Despite suffering eight years of human rights abuses, terrorism, corruption and inefficiency, the public has supported the call of the PPP and refrained from expressing its anger on the streets. And the reason is that we see February 18 elections as our only opportunity to change the status quo and make way for a democratic transition. Any attempt to snatch this opportunity from us will extract a heavy price. Even the PPP will not be able to stop the angry public from expressing its outrage. For its own safety and the stability of Pakistan, the regime must fulfil its constitutional obligation to ensure free and fair elections."