By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Independent candidates backed by the party of Imran Khan, the jailed former prime minister, were leading in Pakistan’s general election on Friday, according to partial results reported by local media outlets, after an unusual delay in the vote count that led to accusations of vote rigging and manipulation.
The Election Commission of Pakistan said it had received unofficial results from 187 of the 265 constituencies in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, by Friday evening, almost 24 hours after the polls closed on Thursday.
According to the commission’s data, the independents, most of whom are supported by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, had won 79 seats, followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the party of Nawaz Sharif, the three-time prime minister, with 56 seats. The Pakistan Peoples Party, led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, had 43 seats. To form a government, a party or a coalition needs at least 133 seats in the National Assembly.
Khan, 71, is serving multiple prison sentences and was barred from running in the election. His party’s candidates were also barred from using a cricket bat as their symbol. They all contested as independent candidates. Votes are still being counted.
The commission blamed technical glitches and a new electronic system for the slow pace of counting, but opposition parties and some observers alleged that the process was being manipulated to favor Sharif’s party.
The election is likely to produce a hung Parliament, with no single party or alliance securing a clear majority, adding to the uncertainty and instability that have plagued the country for years.
Pakistan is facing a severe economic crisis and is dependent on a bailout program from the International Monetary Fund that is due to expire in March. It is also grappling with rising militant violence, especially in the western provinces bordering Afghanistan.
The election was held amid tight security, with thousands of troops deployed on the streets and at the polling stations across the country. The borders with Iran and Afghanistan were temporarily closed.
The government had suspended mobile phone and internet services in some areas on Thursday as a security measure to prevent terrorist attacks.
Despite the heightened security, 12 people, including two children, were killed in 51 bomb blasts, grenade attacks, and shootings by militants, mostly in the western provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, interior minister Gohar Ejaz told a news conference.
“A timely announcement of the results, leading to a smooth formation of a new government, will reduce policy and political uncertainty,” Moody’s Investors Service, a credit rating agency, said in a statement on Friday. “This is crucial for the country that is facing very challenging macroeconomic conditions.”
Some analysts said the election outcome was too close to call and that the role of the military and its intelligence agencies would be crucial in determining the next government. The military, which has a history of meddling in politics and staging coups, has denied any interference and said it was only providing security and logistical support for the election.
The delay in the announcement of the results, which was not unprecedented for elections in Pakistan, rattled the financial markets. The Karachi stock exchange index fell by more than 2 percent on Friday, while the yields on Pakistan’s sovereign bonds rose.
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