ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s new Chief Election Commissioner took his oath of office yesterday as opposition protests for a probe into allegations of vote rigging by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif run into their fourth month.
Sardar Muhammad Raza, 69, a retired Supreme Court judge and chief of Sharia court, was sworn in as Chief Election Commissioner by Supreme Court Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, the Supreme Court said in a statement yesterday.
Pakistan’s Election Commission had been without a permanent chief since the previous chief Fakhruddin G Ebrahim resigned in July last year after the Supreme Court ordered him to change the dates of presidential election.
Ebrahim conducted the landmark May 2013 election, which for the first time saw the transition from one civilian government to another.
But cricketer-turned-opposition leader Imran Khan has alleged massive vote rigging took place during those polls.
Khan has been holding demonstrations around the country since mid-August to force Sharif to step down — earlier this week he warned he would “close the whole of Pakistan” as part of a bid to topple the government.
His campaign is losing momentum, but Khan has warned that on December 16 he and his supporters would paralyse major cities starting with Lahore, Sharif’s seat of power.
AFP
