ISLAMABAD: “On election day, voting was assessed as well-conducted and transparent,” said Michael Gahler, chief observer of the EU Election Observation Mission (EUEOM), at a press conference in Islamabad on Friday.
However, Gahler raised the alarm about pre-election practices highlighting restrictions on the media, an uneven playing field for candidates, and a systematic effort to undermine the former ruling party.
“Although there were several legal provisions aimed at ensuring a level playing field, we have concluded that there was a lack of equality of opportunity,” he said.
Gahler said that numerous interlocutors acknowledged a systematic effort to “undermine the former ruling party through cases of corruption, contempt of court and terrorist charges against its leaders and candidates.”
“Media outlets and journalists suffered from restrictions, which resulted in extraordinary self-censorship,” he said. “This resulted in election coverage without impartial scrutiny.”
Both local and international election observers have expressed satisfaction with polling day arrangements.
Gahler said that while results were still pouring in from several constituencies, this would not damage the electoral process. He added that the international observers were not interested in the results but rather the electoral process.
The EUEOM deployed 120 observers on polling day across Pakistan — except Balochistan province due to security reasons. They visited 113 different constituencies, 582 polling stations and tabulation centers to observe the electoral process.
In the elections held on July 25, the party of former cricket star Imran Khan won a majority of seats to form a federal government. His opponents have, however, alleged massive rigging in the polls and rejected the results.
The preliminary statement released by the EUEOM said that a total of 11,855 candidates contested the elections, of which 55 percent stood as independents. “Some 4.8 percent of candidates were women,” it said.
The report pointed out that the legal requirement to nominate at least 5 percent of female candidates was not met by 7.4 percent of parties contesting the elections.
The July 25 polls mark the second consecutive democratic transition of power, addressing uncertainties over the future of democracy in Pakistan. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, voter turnout in the election was 55.8 percent. A total of 105.96 million registered voters used their right to franchise on the polling day.
Earlier in the day, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) — a non-government organization based in Islamabad — also presented its election observation report and acknowledged “significant improvement” in the quality of electoral process.
The FAFEN has urged the ECP to conduct an inquiry into the allegations of rigging leveled by some major political parties including the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. “Otherwise, the country may spiral into a phase of political and public protest and outcry that inhibits political stability,” it said.
The deployment of as many as 371,000 armed forces personnel on election duties, despite questions from some political parties, “ensured the peaceful conduct of election day amid heightened threats of subversive acts,” the report said.
It, however, pointed out that “some aspects of the pre-election environment and the vote-counting process present cause for concern that should be addressed.”
The FAFEN deployed a total of 19,683 trained, non-partisan observers to monitor the voting and counting process at 72,089 polling stations in 270 National Assembly constituencies, it said.
“The voting process on election day generally remained smooth,” the report concluded.
EU, international observers express satisfaction over Pakistan poll day preparations
EU, international observers express satisfaction over Pakistan poll day preparations
- Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) urged Pakistan’s Election Commission to conduct inquiry into allegations of rigging leveled by different political parties
- Gahler raised the alarm about pre-election practices highlighting restrictions on the media, an uneven playing field for candidates, and a systematic effort to undermine the former ruling party
Seven dead in small plane crash in western Mexico
- The aircraft, a Cessna 207, was flying from La Parota in the neighboring state of Michoacan
The aircraft, a Cessna 207, was flying from La Parota in the neighboring state of Michoacan.
Jalisco Civil Protection said via its social media that the crash site was in an area that was difficult to access.
Initial authorities on the scene “reported a preliminary count of seven people dead,” who haven’t been identified yet, according to the agency.
“A fire was extinguished and risk mitigation was carried out to prevent possible additional damage,” it added.
Authorities said they were awaiting the arrival of forensic investigators to remove the bodies and rule out the presence of additional victims.
Canada’s Trudeau losing support within his party: MPs
- Ottawa area MP Chandra Arya: Dozens of Liberal MPs want the prime minister to go
- Trudeau has huddled with advisers to contemplate his future ahead of elections set for October 2025
OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s support within his own party appeared to falter further on Sunday, as former loyalists said growing numbers of Liberal caucus members wanted the premier to resign.
Trudeau has suffered a series of blows in recent days, spurred by the surprise resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who clashed with her boss over incoming US president Donald Trump’s threats to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports.
Freeland’s exit, after nearly a decade at Trudeau’s side, marked the first open dissent against the prime minister from within his cabinet and has emboldened critics.
Ottawa area MP Chandra Arya told the public broadcaster CBC on Sunday that dozens of Liberal MPs wanted Trudeau to go.
Arya was interviewed a day after Liberal MPs from the province of Ontario held a meeting that addressed Trudeau’s future.
Multiple outlets, including the CBC and Toronto Star, reported that more than 50 of the 75 Ontario Liberals in parliament declared in Saturday’s meeting that they no longer supported Trudeau.
Asked about those reports, Arya said a “majority of the caucus thinks it is time for the prime minister to step aside.”
Anthony Housefather, a Liberal member of parliament from the province of Quebec, told the CBC on Sunday that “the prime minister needs to go.”
“We’re in an impossible situation if he stays,” Housefather said, arguing the party would be hammered in an election that amounted to a referendum on Trudeau’s leadership.
Trudeau has huddled with advisers to contemplate his future ahead of elections set for October 2025 but expected much sooner. He changed a third of his cabinet on Friday.
Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the small leftist New Democratic Party in parliament, declared Friday that he would join with other opposition parties to topple Trudeau’s minority government early next year.
The NDP had previously opposed a series of non-confidence votes brought by the opposition Conservatives.
A change in the party’s position would almost certainly bring down Trudeau’s government if another non-confidence vote is held.
Trudeau swept to power in 2015 and led the Liberals to two more ballot box victories in 2019 and 2021.
But he now trails his main rival, Conservative Pierre Poilievre, by 20 points in public opinion polls.
Trump names former staffer Katie Miller to Musk-led DOGE panel
- Katie Miller will soon be joining DOGE! She has been a loyal supporter of mine for many years, and will bring her professional experience to Government Efficiency, Trump posts
WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday named Katie Miller, who served in Trump’s first administration and is the wife of his incoming deputy chief of staff, as one of the first members of an advisory board to be led by billionaire allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy that aims to drastically slash government spending, federal regulations and the federal workforce.
Miller, wife of Trump’s designated homeland security adviser Stephen Miller, will join Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an informal advisory body that Trump has said will enable his administration to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
“Katie Miller will soon be joining DOGE! She has been a loyal supporter of mine for many years, and will bring her professional experience to Government Efficiency,” Trump posted in a message on his social media platform Truth Social.
Musk and Ramaswamy recently revealed plans to wipe out scores of federal regulations crafted by what they say is an anti-democratic, unaccountable bureaucracy, but have yet to announce members of the DOGE team. Musk has said he wants to slash the number of federal agencies from over 400 to 99.
Katie Miller had served in the first Trump adminstration as deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security and as press secretary for former Vice President Mike Pence.
She is currently a spokesperson for the transition team for Trump’s designated Health and Human Services secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr.
Panama rejects Trump’s threat to take control of Canal
- Trump also complained of China’s growing influence around the canal, a worrying trend for American interests as US businesses depend on the channel to move goods between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
PANAMA CITY: Panama’s president Jose Raul Mulino on Sunday dismissed recent threats made by US President-elect Donald Trump to retake control of the Panama Canal over complaints of “unfair” treatment of American ships.
“Every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent areas belongs to Panama and will continue belonging to Panama,” Mulino said in a video posted to X.
Mulino’s public comments, though never mentioning Trump by name, come a day after the president-elect complained about the canal on his Truth Social platform.
“Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous,” he said.
Trump also complained of China’s growing influence around the canal, a worrying trend for American interests as US businesses depend on the channel to move goods between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
“It was solely for Panama to manage, not China, or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!“
The Panama Canal, which was completed by the United States in 1914, was returned to the Central American country under a 1977 deal signed by Democratic president Jimmy Carter.
Panama took full control in 1999.
Trump said that if Panama could not ensure “the secure, efficient and reliable operation” of the channel, “then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question.”
Mulino rejected Trump’s claims in his video message, though he also said he hopes to have “a good and respectful relationship” with the incoming administration.
“The canal has no direct or indirect control from China, nor the European Union, nor the United States or any other power,” Mulino said. “As a Panamanian, I reject any manifestation that misrepresents this reality.”
Later on Sunday, Trump responded to Mulino’s dismissal, writing on Truth Social: “We’ll see about that!“
Musk, president? Trump says ‘not happening’
- Trump: “He wasn’t born in this country”
“He’s not gonna be president, that I can tell you,” Trump told a Republican conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
“You know why he can’t be? He wasn’t born in this country,” Trump said of the Tesla and SpaceX boss, who was born in South Africa.
The US Constitution requires that a president be a natural-born US citizen.
Trump was responding to criticism, particularly from the Democratic camp, portraying the tech billionaire and world’s richest person as “President Musk” for the outsized role he is playing in the incoming administration.
As per ceding the presidency to Musk, Trump also assured the crowd: “No, no that’s not happening.”
The influence of Musk, who will serve as Trump’s “efficiency czar,” has become a focus point for Democratic attacks, with questions raised over how an unelected citizen can wield so much power.
And there is even growing anger among Republicans after Musk trashed a government funding proposal this week in a blizzard of posts — many of them wildly inaccurate — to his more than 200 million followers on his social media platform X.
Alongside Trump, Musk ultimately helped pressure Republicans to renege on a funding bill they had painstakingly agreed upon with Democrats, pushing the United States to the brink of budgetary paralysis that would have resulted in a government shutdown just days before Christmas.
Congress ultimately reached an agreement overnight Friday to Saturday, avoiding massive halts to government services.
