From Jane Perlez of the New York Times telling one of the many factors that might influence today’s vote in Pakistan:
The most potent criticism of Mr. Moonis revolves around the mailing of money orders from government funds worth 1,500 rupees, about $38, to all the homes in his constituency.
The orders were signed by his father, who until Nov. 20 was the chief minister of Punjab, the most important post in the province.
According to provincial government documents, the money came from a program intended for disaster victims that calls for means testing of recipients. The dates on the money orders shows they were signed by Mr. Elahi on Nov. 29, nine days after he left office. Mr. Moonis’s opponent, Ashraf Ejaz Gill of the Peoples Party, said he had complained to the Election Commission to no avail.
During an interview in his lavish campaign headquarters in Lahore, Mr. Moonis said the mailing of the money orders was a mistake. “Someone in the government decided to put the whole constituency down instead of the poorest of the poor,” Mr. Moonis said. “It was some bureaucratic mess-up.”