Imran Khan to Write Letter to IMF Seeking “Election Audit”

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan will write a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asking it to link talks with Pakistan to an audit of the recently held elections. Speaking to reporters in Rawalpindi on Thursday, PTI’s Senator Ali Zafar said that the letter will be issued by the party’s founder today. He explained that the IMF, the European Union (EU), and other organizations had a charter that said that good governance was needed for working in the country or giving a loan. The senator said that the most important condition for good governance is democracy and that the people’s mandate was stolen during the Feb 8 polls. He added that if elections were not free and fair, then any organization would avoid giving a loan to such a country. Zafar said that Khan would ask the IMF in the letter to set a condition to conduct an audit of constituencies where rigging has happened and only initiate talks with Pakistan once the election audit has been completed. It is pertinent to mention here that in its Staff Report issued after the First Review under the $3 billion Stand-by Arrangement, IMF had highlighted that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had issued a statement noting the importance of free and fair elections to the successful implementation of the Fund-supported program.