By Sardar Sikander Shaheen
Copyright brecorder
ISLAMABAD: The Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) has declined to comment on one of its purported leaked reports regarding last year’s general elections in Pakistan, without denying the authenticity of an online report being attributed to the COG.
“We are aware that a version of the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) report on the 2024 Pakistan general elections is being circulated online. As a matter of policy, the Commonwealth Secretariat will not comment on leaked documents,” the COG has said in a recent statement.
The statement apparently came in response to a recent news item about the COG’s final report on Pakistan’s 2024 general elections.
In the statement, the COG said that its report (on Pakistan’s general elections) has already been shared with Pakistan’s government and the electoral body.
The full report, it said, would be released later this month, without specifying any date. “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 several COG reports currently in the publication pipeline,” the statement said.
The COG said that it is committed to observing the polls with impartiality and transparency. “The Commonwealth Secretariat remains firmly committed to election observation conducted in line with our established guidelines, which ensure impartiality and transparency. Our work is carried out free from any interference.”
It is worth recalling here that the delegates of COG visited Pakistan in connection with the general elections last year. However, the COG’s report regarding these polls was not made public, in what appeared to be a stark deviation from the past practice.
This led to speculations over the circumstances surrounding the unusual delay of more than half a year in the release of this report.
Earlier this week, Drop Site News, an American online publication, published what it claimed to be COG’s report on Pakistan’s general polls held last year.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
