ISLAMABAD: Supporters of two Pakistani political parties whose candidates are vying for the mayoral seat in Pakistan’s largest city and financial hub of Karachi clashed after voting on Thursday afternoon for a contest that has already been mired in controversy.
The vote was between Murtaza Wahab of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman of the religious political party, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). The JI had requested the election commission of Pakistan to postpone the voting process, alleging that supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had been “abducted” by the PPP administration in Sindh to prevent them from participating in the contest.
The PTI had recently announced unconditional support for the JI candidate, who lost by 13 votes according to unofficial results, as 173 electoral college members supported PPP’s Wahab.
Shortly after the announcement of the unofficial results, supporters of the JI and PPP clashed with each other, using sticks and stones. Local media extensively covered the conflict, broadcasting visuals of the skirmish in front of the Arts Council of Pakistan building where the voting took place.
“The abduction of elected representatives, vote buying, bullying and rigging ahead of the election of the mayor of Karachi have hung a question mark over the constitution and democracy,” top JI leader, Siraj-ul-Haq, said in a Twitter post. “If democracy is constantly mocked like this, people’s remaining faith in it will also be lost.”
Earlier in the day, the JI wrote a letter to the chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, urging him to suspend the “fraudulent” voting process and issue a new election schedule.
Local government elections in the southern Sindh province were conducted in multiple phases due to last year’s floods along with other administrative reasons. The position of Karachi’s mayor holds significant political value since it is the largest city and commercial hub of Pakistan with several national and provincial assembly seats.
