Pakistani parties reject election results, demand new vote

ISLAMABAD:- A group of Pakistani political parties, that faced a virtual rout in this week's nationwide polls, Friday announced protests demanding new elections.

"We will run a movement for holding of elections again. There will be protests," said Maulana Fazalur Rehman, who himself was defeated by a woman candidate from former cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan, who swept the polls to become the Prime Minister of the only Muslim nuclear state.

Shahbaz Sharif, brother of jailed former Premier Nawaz Sharif's and his Muslim League partys new leader announced his support for the "movement" but said he still needed to consult his party to see if they would boycott taking oaths that would swear them into parliament as well.

"The worst kind of irregularities have been committed which are unprecedented," said Sharif of the election.

Rival parties met late Friday as part of an alliance called the All Parties Conference where they called out the military for interfering in the polls.

"We will not allow democracy to be taken hostage by the establishment," said Rehman, using a word widely understood in Pakistan to mean the military as he stood on stage along with members from more than a dozen parties.

The vote was meant to be a rare democratic transition in the Muslim country, which has been ruled by the powerful army for roughly half its history, but was marred by violence and allegations of military interference.