As polling stations closed across Pakistan on Thursday evening, democracy defenders accused the South Asian nation's U.S.-backed government—which banned the country's most popular politician from running for office—of conducting a general election rife with voter suppression and violence.
"This is one of the most controversial and most rigged elections in Pakistan's history," Taimur Jhagra, a parliamentary candidate from the populist Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told
Al Jazeera. "This is yet another black mark, and it's only because of the fear of the people of Pakistan voting for Imran Khan."
Jhagra was referring to the PTI founder and former prime minister who is
imprisoned on what his supporters say are politically motivated charges that disqualified him from seeking office. Khan remains Pakistan's most popular politician.
As preliminary results
showed Khan's PTI leading in a strong majority of Pakistan's constituencies, local and international media reported increased presence of military and police forces at polling places. Some observers reported ballot counts being stopped and videos posted on social media showed violence erupting at some polling places.
"After clear and visible chances of victory of Imran Khan's candidates in the preliminary results, the process of results got slowed down alarmingly," PTI chief organizer Omar Ayub Khan and PTI Sen. Syed Ali Zafar said in a joint statement.
"Pakistan elections are a sham without Imran Khan," exiled Pakistani politician and former Khan adviser Shahzad Akbar asserted in an
opinion piece published Thursday by Middle East Eye.
Akbar added that "Pakistan has witnessed a terrible time for political dissent."
"The army has launched a massive crackdown on Khan's PTI, with leaders picked up on random charges or reported missing," he noted. "Journalists covering the saga have also
disappeared or turned up dead."
Additionally, the PTI's party offices and candidates' homes have been raided by police. Voters have reportedly been assigned to polling stations that don't match where they live, and Pakistani media outlets have reported faults in the vote tabulation system.
"Pakistan elections are a sham without Imran Khan."
One of the government's most controversial moves was the imposition of a
telecommunications blackout that blocked cell phone and internet service across the country. Alp Toker, director of the London-based digital rights group NetBlocks, called the blackout "inherently undemocratic."
Government officials claimed the blackout was ordered for national security reasons following Wednesday's
bombings in Balochistan that killed and wounded scores of people. However, critics noted the nationwide nature of the telecom suspension in refuting the government's rationale.
"I condemn the internet blackout," candidate Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of the center-left Pakistan People's Party told
Al Jazeera. "I ask the election commission, the government, and the judiciary to restore it. It will have an impact on voter turnout and coordination."
In the United States—whose government stands accused of playing a key role in ousting Khan—Democratic Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib asserted on social media that "we must stand with the Pakistani people as their democracy is at serious risk."
"They should be able to elect their leaders without interference and tampering with the process, and the U.S. must ensure our tax dollars don't go to anyone undermining that," she added.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) said that "Pakistanis have the right to elect their leaders without cell phone service shutdowns and other authoritarian practices aimed at undermining election results."
"The U.S. must stand with the Pakistani people and make clear we will not support anyone working to undermine democracy," he added.
