US criticises pre-electoral process 'flaws'

The United States said Friday it was concerned about "flaws" in Pakistan's pre-electoral process, but said it was nonetheless ready to work with the new government.

In a statement, the US State Department acknowledged Wednesday's election results, which saw cricket star Imran Khan win the vote in an outcome rejected by Pakistan's main parties.

However, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: "The United States shares concerns about flaws in the pre-voting electoral process, as expressed by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan."

Those flaws included "constraints placed on freedoms of expression and association during the campaign period that were at odds with Pakistani authorities' stated goal of a fully fair and transparent election," she added.

Nauert said Washington agreed with the European Union's observation that "positive changes to the legal framework for elections in Pakistan" were eclipsed by "restrictions on freedom of expression and unequal campaign opportunities."

The US also expressed "deep reservations over the participation of terrorist-affiliated individuals in the elections," but praised Pakistani voters "for fully rejecting these candidates."

Meanwhile, two international election observation missions — one from the European Union and the other from the Common­wealth — on Friday observed that the army troops deployed at polling stations did not take over the polling process and only assisted the presiding officers in the general elections.

The heads of the EU and Commonwealth missions, however, expressed concern over the environment in which the elections were held and highlighted the need for improvement in the procedure for counting of ballot papers.

Speaking at a press conference, EU's election observation mission chief Michael Gahler while presenting the mission's preliminary report said the troops did not take over the process that was conducted by the presiding officers, but the environment in which the elections were held was of a major concern.