A recent report by the independent news outlet ‘Drop Site News’ claimed that the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) had “suppressed their report” after finding the February 8 general elections to be full of irregularities. This claim led to an increasing demand for the report’s release. Although the group’s report has not been officially released, media outlets claimed to have obtained leaked copies.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Commonwealth Observer Group acknowledged that a version of its report on the 2024 Pakistan general elections was circulating online, adding that it does not comment on leaked documents as a matter of policy.
Commonwealth: Report Shared with Government and ECP; to Be Released This Month
The statement further noted that “the government and the Election Commission of Pakistan have already received the report. The full report, as we had communicated earlier, will be released later this month, along with a number of other COG reports currently in the publication pipeline.” The COG also maintained that its work is “carried out free from any interference.”
When announcing its preliminary findings on February 10, 2024, the Commonwealth Observer Group had said that its findings and recommendations would be submitted to the Commonwealth secretary general before being shared with the Pakistani government and released publicly.
The mission’s report has faced an unusual delay, as most observation missions compile and publish their findings within days or weeks of their compilation.
According to an excerpt from the leaked copy—whose authenticity could not be independently verified by Dawn—the report stated that: “Despite the fact that early vote counts indicated a landslide victory for candidates aligned with… the banned PTI… their polling leads were rapidly reversed.”
In a statement issued on Sunday, PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqqas Akram said the leaked report validated PTI’s long-standing concerns about widespread pre- and post-poll rigging. Zulfi Bukhari, a former aide to ex-PM Imran Khan, also raised questions about why the report was never officially released.
