ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The federal minister for information Pervaiz Rasheed has said that people are in no mood for fresh general elections in the country as shown by the low turnout in the Multan by-election.
The media reports said that low turnout was witnessed in the by-election held on Thursday in NA-149 Multan-II while according to unofficial and unconfirmed results of all 286 polling stations, Malik Amir Dogar defeated Javed Hashmi by a margin of more than 10,000 votes.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed candidate Aamir Dogar secured 57,972 votes in the NA-149 by-poll while the former PTI president Javed Hashmi, who contested the election as an independent candidate but with the active of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), managed to secure 47,500 votes.
In a statement, the information minister said that the Multan by-election has once again proved that people have confidence in the existing electoral system.
Rasheed said that the PTI Chairman Imran Khan should review his policy of confrontation and baseless accusations.
In addition, he said that low turnout suggests people have rejected the demand of the PTI and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek for midterm elections.
