Nawaz warns against 'plot' to delay polls
06 February, 2013
JEDDAH: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday that certain forces were conspiring to delay the elections, and vowed that his party would foil all such plots.
Speaking to the media in the Saudi Arabian capital, Nawaz said that postponing the 2013 polls was against the interests of the nation. He said his party would not allow such a delay to take place, and the elections would take place as per schedule. The PML-N chief's statements on a 'conspiracy' to delay the elections comes in the wake of similar statements from Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Senator Raza Rabbani of the Pakistan People's Party.
Nawaz further said that overseas Pakistanis should be allowed to vote in the upcoming general elections and it was necessary to legislate in this regard. He added that the incumbent government was reluctant to pass legislation that enables overseas Pakistanis to vote. Last week, Law Minister Farooq H Naek had told the Senate that although the overseas Pakistanis had the right to vote, absence of a suitable mechanism for the purpose would render it meaningless, at least for the upcoming general election.
He had stated that the Election Commission of Pakistan had enrolled 4.3 million Pakistanis voters living abroad who possessed national identity cards. But they would be able to cast their votes in the constituencies where they had been registered, for which they must come to Pakistan.
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