Overview

• The observer group concludes PTI’s ability to compete was “consistently limited,” citing denial of the party’s bat symbol and the forced registration of its candidates as independents.
• The report documents arrests, detentions, unexplained disappearances, and raids targeting PTI figures that curtailed freedoms of association and assembly.
• Observers note an election-night shutdown of mobile services that reduced transparency and delayed results, alongside discrepancies between polling-station forms and constituency tallies that may have produced unlawful returns.
• The media environment is described as skewed, with state TV favoring PML-N and PPP, PTI-linked independents receiving less positive coverage, and broadcasters reportedly told not to say Imran Khan’s name.
• Although PTI-aligned independents won the most seats, a PML-N–PPP coalition returned Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister, and the Commonwealth team recommends reforms to election law, administration, political rights, media freedoms, and women’s participation.