Summary Japanese Election Observer Mission Tuesday said democracy is gradually taking hold in Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD (Agencies) - The Australian Government, Tuesday, congratulated Pakistan and its people on the successful completion of electoral process on May 11.
“These elections will see the first transfer of power from one democratically elected civilian government to another in the country’s 66 year history” said Australian Minister For Foreign Affairs Senator the Bob Carr in a statement issued here by the Australian High Commission here.
The Minister said that the Australian Government was encouraged by the high voter turnout, especially among women, despite threats of violence from some terrorist groups during the election campaign.
“Since 2011, Australia has committed a total of $7 million towards the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) efforts to build the capacity of the Electoral Commission of Pakistan (ECP)” he added.
He observed that the Australian Government also provided a further $200,000 to support the Commonwealth’s election observation mission.
“The Australian Government commends the caretaker government in Pakistan and the ECP for their efforts in overseeing these elections, and looks forward to working with the incoming Government of Pakistan once it has been formed” the minister maintained.
Meanwhile, Japanese Election Observer Mission has said that elections were highly significant for the democratic process in Pakistan. Japanese mission in their said that Election Observer Mission of the Government of Japan observed the election process from May 9 to 11.
The mission was headed by Nobuaki Tanaka, former Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, and consisted of 16 members; two officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, two experts from the University of Osaka and Hitotsubashi University, and eleven officials from the Embassy of Japan in Islamabad and the Consulate General of Japan in Karachi.
The mission was divided into seven groups and conducted the observation in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Murree, Jhelum, Lahore and Karachi (two groups for Karachi).
In its preliminary statement based on the observations of the observers the mission said that many people of Pakistan showed their enthusiasm by casting their votes and this is the proof that the democracy is gradually taking hold in Pakistan.
This was the first general election in Pakistan that was conducted after the completion of the full five-year-term of the National Assembly. The election was a key test for the consolidation of democracy in Pakistan.
