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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party won the most seats in last week’s parliamentary elections, delivering a strong rebuke to the country’s powerful generals and throwing the political system into turmoil.
Military leaders had hoped the election would end the political turmoil that has engulfed the country since Khan’s ouster in 2022, but analysts say it could instead plunge the country into even more dire turmoil. He pointed out that it was a crisis.
Never in the history of this country has a politician achieved so much electoral success without the support of a general – especially after standing up to his iron fist.
Candidates from Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), appear to have won about 97 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, in Thursday’s vote, the country’s Election Commission reported on Saturday. did. The military’s preferred party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, won at least 73 seats, the commission said. Only seven seats were left unaccounted for, but according to the committee’s report, this was not enough to change the outcome.
Candidates aligned with Mr. Khan were expected to form the largest group in parliament, but that still fell short of a simple majority, with the parties of Mr. Khan and Mr. Sharif aiming to win over other members and form a coalition government. A fight began.
Mr. Khan’s party leaders also said they planned to file court challenges in dozens of races where they believed there had been wrongdoing by the military, and would not support them if the remaining results were not announced by Sunday. He urged people to hold peaceful protests.
The success of Mr. Khan’s party was a stunning upset in an election that the military had thought would be an easy victory for Mr. Sharif. Before last week’s elections, Pakistan’s powerful generals imprisoned Mr. Khan, arrested candidates allied with him, and threatened supporters to remove his party from competition — or so they thought. was. Rather, the election results confirmed that, despite Khan’s ouster and subsequent imprisonment, he remains a formidable force in Pakistani politics.
On Friday night, Mr. Khan’s party released a victory speech using a computer-generated voice imitating the voice of Mr. Khan, who has been imprisoned since August. “Congratulations to all of you on your victory in the 2024 elections. I had full confidence that you would all come out to vote,” the artificial intelligence-generated voice said. “Your large turnout surprised everyone.”
Mr. Khan’s party’s success has upended decades of political strategy that have ruled Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 240 million people. During that time, the military has exercised ultimate authority and guided politics behind a veil of secrecy, while civilian leaders typically rise to power only with military support or are forced out of public office by military force. I was often kicked out.
The vote also showed that Mr. Khan’s strategy of preaching reform and slamming the military resonates with Pakistanis, especially young people, who are disillusioned with the political system. His loyal base of supporters is also seemingly immune to the military’s traditional tactics of undermining voter morale, such as arresting supporters days before voting and sentencing political leaders to long prison terms. It was also proven that.
Khan, a former cricket star turned populist politician, was found guilty in four separate cases and sentenced to a total of 34 years in prison for crimes including leaking state secrets and illegal marriage. , alleges the charges were politically motivated.
Analysts say three of the verdicts were handed down days before the vote, an old tactic used by the military. But early estimates suggest that about 48% of eligible voters voted in the election, according to the Free and Fair Elections Network, an organization of civil society groups. Voter turnout in the country’s last two elections was about 50%, the group said.
Zahid Hussain, an Islamabad-based analyst, said the result was “both an anti-establishment vote and a vote against the status quo against the other two major parties that have dominated the country and its dynastic politics. ” and said: To the military as a system.
Most analysts believe that without a simple majority, it will be difficult for Khan’s party, the PTI, to form a government. Some PTI leaders have suggested they would rather remain in the opposition than lead a weakened coalition government with Mr. Khan still in custody.
Despite falling behind in the polls, Sharif gave a victory speech on Friday in front of a crowd of supporters of his party, the PML-N. He also called on other political parties to join him in forming a coalition government, indicating that such a coalition would not include the PTI.
“Today we invite you to sit with us as we rebuild this wounded Pakistan,” he said in a speech in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.
But whatever kind of coalition Mr Sharif manages to form, it will face serious political challenges. The coalition government led by the PML-N after Khan’s ouster was highly unpopular and widely criticized for failing to deal with the economic crisis that gripped the country and pushed inflation to record highs.
The next government is also likely to face a serious legitimacy crisis. Thursday’s election was also criticized by some as one of the least reliable in the country’s history, with the delay in announcing the results allowing the military to favor the PML-N. There are widespread suspicions that he tampered with the vote count to regain his position. .
It could be some time before any party forms a government, as the PTI promises a painful and lengthy legal battle over the outcome.
“We will pursue all legal options, we will pursue all constitutional options,” PTI leader Raof Hasan said.
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