ISLAMABAD: A group of 130 activists, lawyers, and journalists has submitted a letter to the Commonwealth Secretariat, expressing alarm over the 19-month delay in publishing the Commonwealth Observer Group’s (COG) final report on Pakistan’s 2024 general elections.
The report, finally released on September 30, flagged serious irregularities, including restrictions that curtailed political rights and undermined one party’s ability to contest fairly.
The COG report also raised concerns about the suspension of cellular services on election night, which it said compromised transparency and delayed the transmission of results.
‘Extraordinary’ delay questioned
In their letter, the signatories described the delay as “extraordinary” and unprecedented in Commonwealth election monitoring history. They pointed out that election reports are routinely published soon after polling.
“We are not aware that any other COG report has been published 10 months after transmittal of the final report to the Secretariat by the relevant observer group,” the letter said.
By comparison, Pakistan’s 2013 election report was released within 39 days of polling, while the 2018 report was also published in the same year. Reports for other countries — including Sri Lanka (December 2024), Ghana (March 2025), and Trinidad and Tobago (July 2025) — were all published earlier, despite Pakistan’s election having preceded them.
The letter noted that the COG had transmitted Pakistan’s 2024 report, signed by all 15 members, to the Secretariat on November 20, 2024, but it was withheld from the public for 10 months. “This requires explanation,” the letter stressed.
Violations of Commonwealth guidelines
The signatories argued that the delay violated the Commonwealth’s own rules. They cited Section 6.3 of the Revised Commonwealth Guidelines, which requires a preliminary statement within 48 hours of polling, and Section 6.7 of the Commonwealth Handbook on Election Observation, which mandates that final reports “shall be issued in a timely manner … and then made public.”
They also expressed concern that, according to a statement by the Commonwealth on September 14, the report had already been shared with the federal government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), but not with voters or civil society.
“This damning admission that the report was shared with the perpetrators of election fraud but withheld from the victims — Pakistani voters, opposition parties, and civil society — constitutes a betrayal of the Commonwealth Charter’s commitments to democracy and human rights,” the letter said.
Report findings
The COG report itself confirmed that “decisions by key institutions consistently limited the ability of one particular party to contest the elections,” undermining credibility, transparency, and inclusiveness. It highlighted “worrying observations” such as restrictions on freedom of association, reduced transparency due to telecommunications blackouts, discrepancies in polling results, curbs on journalistic freedom, and the mass arrests of PTI members.
It also expressed “immense concern” over allegations of judicial interference in election-related cases.
Demands to the Commonwealth
The letter urged the Secretariat to take remedial steps, including:
Commissioning an independent inquiry into the 19-month delay in publishing the report.
Adopting a policy to automatically publish observer reports within a fixed timeframe.
Referring the issue to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group and placing it on the agenda of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Issuing an unequivocal apology to the people of Pakistan for “failing them at a critical moment in their history.”
PTI’s position
Earlier in September, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had called on the Commonwealth to release the report, claiming it exposed “systemic rigging, institutional bias, and deliberate targeting” of PTI and its founder Imran Khan.
The COG, however, initially declined to comment on a leaked version of the report published on September 13 by Dropsite News. “The government and the Election Commission of Pakistan have already received the report,” it said in a statement. “The full report … will be released later this month, along with a number of COG reports currently in the publication pipeline.”
The letter concluded that by withholding the report, the Commonwealth Secretariat had harmed democratic accountability and deprived millions of Pakistanis of the opportunity to seek redress. “The foremost duty of the Commonwealth Secretariat is to uphold the democratic rights of the people of its member states. Instead, it denied them that right for 19 months,” it read.
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