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Imran Khan claims victory in Pakistan elections Imran Khan claims victory in Pakistan elections
(about 1 hour later)
The former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan has claimed victory in his country’s parliamentary elections, promising a new Pakistan following a vote that was marred by allegations of fraud and militant violence. The former international cricket star Imran Khan has declared victory in Pakistan’s general election, hailing what he described as “the fairest” vote in the country’s history, despite widespread allegations it was rigged in favour of his Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Khan, who aspires to be the country’s next prime minister, said in a televised address to the nation that “thanks to God, we won and we were successful”. In a televised address to the nation from his house in Bani Gala, a wealthy suburb of Islamabad, Khan struck a unifying tone, pledging to rise above personal attacks and lift up the poor.
“If God wills, we will set an example,” he said. With half the vote counted - more than fifteen hours after the official result was due - the PTI was projected to win about 120 of the 272 contested seats in the national assembly, leaving it only a few shy of a majority coalition.
Pakistan’s election commission has not yet released official final results, but Khan has maintained a commanding lead according to projections by many television stations. It is still unclear, however, if his Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) will win a simple majority or have to form a coalition government. Early on Thursday morning, Shahbaz Sharif, the leader of the second-placed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said his party would “wholly reject” the result. “It is a sheer rigging. The way the people’s mandate has blatantly been insulted, it is intolerable,” Sharif said.
Election officials said an official count confirming Pakistan’s next government was expected later in the evening. More than a dozen TV channels projected based on undisclosed methodologies that PTI would get as many as 119 seats of the 270 national assembly seats contested. Leaders from six major parties alleged that their polling agents – workers who keep an eye on the count – were evicted from ballot-booths by security officials in contravention of electoral rules.
Before even half the votes were counted, Khan’s leading rival, Shahbaz Sharif, who heads the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), the party of the jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, rejected the vote, generating fears that disgruntled losers could delay the formation of the next government. Khan said: “I feel that this election has been the fairest in Pakistan’s history. If any party has any doubts, we will open the results of those constituencies up for investigation.”
TV projections give his party 61 seats. In a tweet on his official page, Sharif said “our democratic process has been pushed back by decades”, and that “had the public mandate been delivered in a fair manner, we would have accepted it happily”. Appearing calm, the 65-year-old promised to improve Pakistan’s governance, widen the tax base and shun the VIP lifestyle of previous rulers. He said he would be “ashamed” to live in the lavish prime minister’s house, and would turn it into an “educational institution.”
“His speech will calm people down a bit,” said Asad Liaqat of Harvard University, describing it as Khan’s best in years and in contrast to the “obnoxious victory speech” many would have expected.
Although results are not expected to be finalised until late on Thursday evening or early on Friday, the PTI seems likely to make an unprecedented sweep of Pakistan. It stands to control the central government, provincial governments in the crucial province of Punjab and northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as holding a dominant position in the southern business capital of Karachi.
This means the party will find it easier to implement policies across the nation.
“His first priority needs to be macroeconomic stability,” said columnist Mosharraf Zaidi, “and addressing the balance of payments crisis that is starting Pakistan in the face.”
The election marked only the second time in Pakistan’s 71-year history that one civilian government has handed power to another in the country of 200 million people. There was, however, still widespread concern during the campaign about manipulation by the military, which has directly or indirectly ruled Pakistan for most of its existence.
The PML-N, the party of Shahbaz Sharif’s brother, the jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, repeatedly complained that it was being targeted by the security establishment during the campaign.
Khan has staunchly denied allegations by PML-N that he is getting help from the military. The army, which also dismisses allegations of meddling, deployed 371,000 soldiers at polling stations across the country, nearly five times the number as in last election in 2013.
As voting got under way on Wednesday in the south-western city of Quetta, the Balochistan provincial capital, a suicide bomber attacked a crowded polling station, killing 31 people. Balochistan also saw the worst violence during campaigning earlier this month, when a suicide bomber struck at a political rally, killing 149 people.
While there was no sign of popular protests on Thursday, Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bezinjo, President of the National Party, said that “all major political parties who rejected the vote” would hold a press conference on Friday to discuss their response to alleged vote-rigging.
The EU’s Election Observation Mission will also give its report on the conduct of the poll at a press conference on Friday. The results from the respected organisation - which also observed the previous vote in 2013 - are likely to impact what the losing parties do next.
Shahbaz Sharif has not been heard from since his firebrand speech on Thursday, leading some to suspect his enthusiasm for challenging the vote is on the wane.
Complaints have also emerged from Pakistan’s independent human rights commission, which issued a statement saying women had not been allowed to vote in some places.Complaints have also emerged from Pakistan’s independent human rights commission, which issued a statement saying women had not been allowed to vote in some places.
In other areas, it said “polling staff appeared to be biased toward a certain party”, but did not name the party. In the days before the election, the rights activist IA Rehman called the campaign the dirtiest in his country’s troubled journey towards sustained democracy.In other areas, it said “polling staff appeared to be biased toward a certain party”, but did not name the party. In the days before the election, the rights activist IA Rehman called the campaign the dirtiest in his country’s troubled journey towards sustained democracy.
Analysts have expressed concern that disgruntled losers could create instability for the incoming government, which will face challenges including a crumbling economy, crippling debt and raging militancy. Provisional results put the liberal Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of assassinated two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, in third place, ahead in 42 constituencies.
As voting got under way on Wednesday in the south-western city of Quetta, the Balochistan provincial capital, a suicide bomber attacked a crowded polling station, killing 31 people. Far-right religious parties did not make any significant gains, to the relief of many Pakistanis, although Aamir Liaquat Hussain, a controversial TV host banned from screens for inciting violence against minorities, won a seat for the PTI in Karachi.
The election, in which Pakistanis voted for the national assembly – the lower house of parliament – and the four provincial assemblies, marked only the second time in Pakistan’s 71-year history that one civilian government has handed power to another in the country of 200 million people. Khan’s success in the election is a stunning rise for the charismatic anti-corruption crusader who has spent much of his political career on the fringes of Pakistani politics.
There was, however, still widespread concern during the election campaign about manipulation by the military, which has directly or indirectly ruled Pakistan for most of its existence. The military had deployed 350,000 troops at 85,000 polling stations. On foreign policy, he lamented on Thursday that Indian media had portrayed him as a “Bollywood villain” ahead of the vote, but said that if Pakistan’s warring neighbour took one step towards peace “we would take two”. He also promised stronger relations with Saudi Arabia and China, while coolly demanding a less “one-sided” relationship with the United States, which he has came to political prominence for criticising over its drone strikes in 2011.
In a tweet on his official account, Pakistan’s military spokesman, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, called accusations of interference “malicious propaganda”. The tweet featured a collage of pictures of Pakistanis handing flowers to military personnel at polling stations and elderly women kissing soldiers. Analysts noted that Khan’s call for open borders and trade with Afghanistan contrasted with the ongoing, military-led construction of a fence along the Durand Line separating the two nations - an early sighting of potential conflict between the army and the man many term their “blue-eyed-boy”.
Balochistan also saw the worst violence during campaigning earlier this month, when a suicide bomber struck at a political rally, killing 149 people, including the candidate Siraj Raisani. Another 400 were wounded.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Balochistan has suffered relentless attacks, both by the province’s secessionists and Sunni militants who have killed hundreds of Shias.
Khan supporters celebrated throughout the night outside party offices countrywide. Most of them were young men, who danced to the sound of beating drums draped in black and green PTI flags.
Khan, a cricket star of almost mythical status, has appealed to young people with promises of a new Pakistan. According to the UN, 65% of Pakistan’s population is under 30.
Video images of a smiling Khan marking his ballot on Wednesday landed him in trouble with the country’s election commission. Its spokesman, Nadeem Qasim, said he had violated constitutional provisions on “the secrecy of the ballot” and his vote could be disqualified.
Moeed Yusuf, an associate vice-president of the Asia Center at the Washington-based US Institute of Peace, said the biggest challenge for the next government would be the economic crisis.
“The new government is going to be in an unenviable position, and especially Imran Khan, as he is not the preferred prime minister for Pakistan’s two traditional chief patrons, China and the US,” he said.
Khan has been an outspoken critic of the US-led war in neighbouring Afghanistan, and China’s huge investment in Pakistan, which has run up millions of dollars in debt to Beijing.
David Markey of Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H Nitze school of advanced international studies said he expected a Khan-led government to “try to renegotiate terms with Beijing, using its populism as a point of leverage, but never actually aiming to sever ties in ways that would upset the army”, which has historically close ties with China.
Associated Press contributed to this report
PakistanPakistan
Imran KhanImran Khan
South and Central AsiaSouth and Central Asia
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