Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif reacts to AJK election results in a televised address on Tuesday. SCREENGRAB
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday hailed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s victory in the first phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections and criticised the Pakistan Peoples Party for alleging rigging, urging it to accept the outcome instead of blaming her party.
The PML-N emerged as the dominant party in the first phase of the AJK Legislative Assembly elections, securing nine of the 13 seats contested across Mirpur Division, according to unofficial and unconfirmed results, while the PPP won the remaining four seats.
Reacting to the results in a televised address, the Punjab chief minister said the PPP’s response was disappointing, adding that instead of accepting its defeat in the spirit of democracy, the party had resorted to issuing statements and expressing anger.
Read: PML-N secures strong lead in AJK polls, wins 9 of 13 seats in Mirpur as unofficial results pour in
“Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has just issued a statement saying that the state has decided that PML-N will win. Bilawal sahab, I want to explain to you that it is not the state that decides elections; it is the people who decide elections,” she said.
The chief minister also referred to the Gilgit-Baltistan elections, where the PPP secured a majority of seats, and said the PML-N had accepted those results and supported the formation of the PPP government.
“In Gilgit-Baltistan, the people decided in your favour. The PML-N wholeheartedly and happily acknowledged your victory. The prime minister congratulated you and supported you in forming the government,” the chief minister said, adding that when the PPP won the Gilgit-Baltistan elections, there were no allegations of rigging, but when it was badly defeated in the AJK elections, it accused the polls of being rigged.
Referring to the PPP’s election rallies, she said they were all empty, although that was not necessarily a symbol of success, and added that the party should have worked on its narrative and performance.
“You had no narrative, no programme for the people of AJK, no reform agenda for AJK, no performance to show, and no record of governance,” she added.
Referring to the PPP government, which has ruled Sindh for more than 17 years, she said the continuity the PPP had enjoyed in the province had not been available to any other party in any other province, yet despite that, the party did not have a single project in Sindh to highlight.
