Politics

Imran Khan’s force wins the Pakistani elections without majority

Islamabad, Feb. 9 (EFE) – Independent candidates backed by the party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan won the most seats in Pakistan’s elections Friday but without a simple majority that would allow them to govern.

With results announced for 236 of the 265 seats that make up Pakistan’s National Assembly (NA), the independent force led by Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), secured 96 seats, according to the latest data from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The Pakistan Muslim League-N, led by three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, came in second with 66 seats, followed by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), led by Bilawal Bhutto-Zarzadi, with 51 seats.

The independent candidates would be the first force in these elections so far, while the announcement of the last 29 seats is still pending.

However, the group does not have the simple majority of 133 that would allow it to govern, and also not all of the independent candidates support Khan.

Nawaz Sharif seeks government

Shortly after the polls closed, PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif invited the main forces leading Pakistan’s vote count to form a coalition government, given the low probability that any force reaches a simple majority to govern.

The three-time former prime minister told supporters he would send his brother and former prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, to meet leaders of other parties and invite them to join a coalition.

The PTI has repeatedly denounced the alteration of results in some constituencies to give victory to its main political rival, the PML-N.

The alleged attempts at vote rigging led to an outbreak of violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where at least two members of the formation were killed and nine others injured when supporters of Khan’s formation and the PML-N clashed during the counting of votes.

An unexpected result

The result in favor of the PTI was unexpected, as Khan, a former cricket star, was excluded from the electoral race, beset by more than a hundred court cases and three convictions handed down last week and keeping him in prison.

Not only did the party face these elections with its leader and closest associates under arrest, but the Supreme Court stripped it of its symbols and identity just a month before the elections, forcing its candidates to run as independents.

This decision was a blow to the PTI machinery, which had to focus its campaign efforts on helping voters identify its candidates among hundreds of others registered on the lists.

Until Thursday, the expected scenario in Pakistan was a victory for the Muslim League (PML-N), partly because of Khan’s imprisonment, but mostly because of the tacit support of the powerful Pakistan Army, seen as the real power controlling the country.

Pakistan is constitutionally a democratic parliamentary republic, so in these elections, a party must win a majority of 133 seats to form a government.

Pakistan’s National Assembly has 266 seats, although this year only 265 representatives were elected after the EPC decided to suspend the election of one constituency. EFE

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