Pakistan vote counting ends, Imran Khan’s party backed independents lead

As counting of votes concludes in Pakistan, independents, mostly backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) party, are leading in 101 of the 264 seats, the Election Commission’s website showed.

Amid protests by PTI and other parties over the alleged rigging during the general elections, the Election Commission has ordered re-polling in some of the polling stations. The re-polling is scheduled for February 15.

Pakistan, a country of 241 million people, voted on February 8 in a general election, as the nation struggles with an economic crisis and terrorism in a deeply polarised political environment. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the results of 264 out of 265 contested seats.

PAKISTAN ELECTION RESULTS: THE LATEST
PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan, who also acts as Imran Khan’s lawyer, said that “all institutions” in Pakistan should respect the people’s mandate. He claimed that his party would be invited by President Arif Alvi to form the government and also stated that Imran Khan, who is in prison, would decide the country’s next Prime Minister. He also said the PTI would stage peaceful protests outside returning officer’s offices on Sunday if the election results were not released by Saturday night, according to local media reports.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), independent candidates backed by PTI sprung a surprise, winning over 100 seats, well ahead of Sharif’s PML-N, which took 72 seats. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), headed by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, won 54 seats, mostly in its stronghold Sindh. Other smaller parties won a combined 27 seats, the ECP said, and they could play a part in the event of a coalition government being formed.

Results were still yet to be declared in some of the seats in the 266-member National Assembly (lower house of Parliament), more than 48 hours since polling ended at 5 pm on Thursday. Counting has been marred by technical glitches, snapping of internet services and sporadic terrorist attacks.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also claimed victory and said his party was the “single-largest party”. However, he admitted he did not have the numbers and invited allies to form a coalition government. His bitter rival and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, too, claimed victory and said he was keen on forming a government.

For Imran Khan and his PTI, the election results were significant as the party was barred from contesting the elections under the electoral symbol of ‘bat’ by the ECP for alleged violation of electoral laws. This is why Imran Khan’s supporters ran as independents.

Despite PTI-backed independents getting the lion’s share, they cannot form a government under Pakistan’s electoral laws. They should join a party and then form a government. Independent candidates are also not eligible to be allocated reserved seats, 70 of which are meant to be distributed according to party strength, news agency Reuters reported.

In his victory speech through AI-generated video and audio message, Imran Khan, who is in jail in multiple cases related to leaking state secrets, corruption and unlawful marriage, claimed victory in the national polls and thanked people for voting for his party in large numbers.

Taking a dig at Sharif, Imran Khan, a former cricketer, said the “London plan” had failed and said the PML-N chief was a “person of low intelligence”.

Amid slow vote count and mounting allegations of rigging, Pakistan President Arif Alvi asserted that his party, PTI, had fought a “long struggle” advocating for electronic voting machines (EVMs).

He said such uncertainty would have been averted if EVMs were used in the February 8 election.

Meanwhile, the PTI, PPP and PML-N have filed petitions in different courts over alleged rigging in their constituencies. The parties have claimed that candidates who were earlier declared winners were later notified as losers.

Pakistan Army Chief Syed Asim Munir praised the “successful conduct” of the election and said the country needed “stable hands” to move on from the politics of “anarchy and polarisation”, news agency PTI reported.

For much of Pakistan’s political history, the military has directly or indirectly played an instrumental role in breaking or making governments. While Imran Khan has claimed a crackdown on his party, the military has rejected the allegation.

The US, the UK and the EU have expressed concerns over rigging and fraud claims in the Pakistan general elections and called for free and fair polls. They said the allegations should be thoroughly investigated while calling for a smooth and democratic process to prevail in the country.

To form a government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 in the National Assembly. Election to one seat was postponed after the death of a candidate. Overall, 169 seats are needed to secure a simple majority out of its total 336 seats, which include the reserved slots for women and minorities.