Zardari says party will not allow rigging in 2018 elections

• Calls for enlisting missing women in voters’ lists

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday that his party will not allow any rigging in the next general elections and that no Iftekhar Chaudhary or Kayani Forumla will be valid this time.

“I was not allowed outside Presidential Palace, Bilawal himself was studying and Yousaf Raza Gillani’s son was abducted just days before the election. Our entire party leadership was prevented from election campaign through terrorism,” he said.

“However, times have changed; all of us will be present in the political battlefield, especially Bilawal Bhutto and Asifa Bhutto, and I will personally head the campaign,” he added.

A FAFEN delegate met former president and presented a report regarding voter registration and election procedure

He further stated that Nawaz Sharif has always stolen the mandate through election rigging since it’s nearly impossible to attain two-thirds majority each time.

Commenting on the FAFEN report, he said that it is unacceptable that 10.2 women voters are not registered nationwide while a staggering 30 per cent voter from Balochistan is also not registered.

Expressing grave concern over the missing women voters from the voters’ list, he called upon the government and all relevant state institutions to address the issue in right earnest for the credibility of the 2018 polls.

On the occasion, the four-member FAFEN team comprising Shahid Fayyaz, Mudassir Rizvi, Yasir Javed and Javed Minwa gave the briefing.

The meeting was informed that the Election Commission had also stated recently that over 13 million women were not in the voters’ lists and not eligible to vote in the elections.

Zardari said that the voters’ registration issue was important for empowering women by enabling them to participate in the political decision-making processes.

Former President of #Pakistan and President PPPP @AAliZardari calls for enlisting missing women in the voters lists https://t.co/RtVCPBTn2N

— PPP (@MediaCellPPP) November 10, 2017

He said that Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will also raise the election and delimitation related issues at the meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Monday and present its point of view forcefully.

The former president also demanded to know the figures of above 18-year-olds in the country—both males and females—to make a fair assessment as to how many citizens were still not registered voters. The issue of under-registration must also be addressed speedily, the former president demanded.

He also called upon party office bearers to keep a watch on the progress made in this regard and to keep him posted regularly.

The PPP leaders who attended the briefing included Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, Farhatullah Babar, Chaudhry Manzoor and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.