CEC offers capacity-building to Iran for electoral process

ISLAMABAD: In what appears to be an unusual move, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja has offered capacity-building or “any kind of professional training” to Iran to strengthen its electoral process. He extended this invitation during a meeting with a high-level Iranian delegation that visited the ECP headquarters on Wednesday.

Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni led the delegation that comprised senior officials from the Iranian side. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Interior State Minister Tallal Chaudhry and senior ECP officials were present on the occasion.

A statement from the ECP issued after the delegation’s visit quoted the CEC as saying that if Iran needed capacity-building or any kind of professional training to strengthen its electoral process, the ECP was ready to render all possible support through its training academy in this regard.

The statement did not mention whether the visiting delegates responded to the CEC’s offer.

CEC Raja, according to the statement, said that the ECP’s training academy was equipped with state-of-the-art features.

The development surfaces at a time when the ECP continues to apparently fail in holding the local government elections, especially in the federal capital and Punjab, where the respective LG terms expired - back in the year 2021. In addition, the electoral body faced serious allegations of unprecedented rigging in the general elections held in February 2024. Several mainstream political parties and international observers have repeatedly demanded a comprehensive audit of these elections. The ECP has rejected the poll rigging allegations.

Meanwhile, CEC Raja told the visiting Iranian delegates on Wednesday that the “entire Pakistani nation shared the grief of Iranian people caused by the martyrdom of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” said the ECP statement.

Iran’s interior minister, the statement said, extended his gratitude to Pakistan, saying Iran’s support to Pakistan in difficult times would “always be remembered with profound appreciation.”

The Iranian interior minister invited the CEC to visit Iran. The CEC accepted the invitation and “thanked the Iranian minister for the gesture,” the press release said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026