By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan faced a political impasse on Friday as two former prime ministers and arch-rivals, Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, both claimed to have won a parliamentary election that was plagued by delayed results and allegations of fraud.
Sharif’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, emerged as the largest single party in Thursday’s vote but fell short of a clear majority. Khan’s supporters, who ran as independents after his party was banned from the polls, secured the most seats overall.
The stalemate raised the possibility of a hung parliament and a prolonged battle to form a coalition government, adding to the troubles of a country struggling with an economic crisis, rising militancy, and a deeply divided political landscape.
Sharif, 74, a three-time former premier who returned from four years of self-exile in Britain late last year, declared victory in a speech to his supporters outside his home in Lahore, the eastern city that is his political bastion.
He said his party would reach out to other groups to form a government and “bring this country out of the whirlpool.”
“Pakistan Muslim League is the single-largest party in the country today after the elections and it is our duty to bring this country out of the whirlpool,” Sharif said.
“We don’t have much majority to make government alone, so we ask the allied parties who have been successful in this election, we invite them that they participate with us, and we make the government together,” he said.
“Whoever has got the mandate, whether independents or parties, we respect the mandate they have got. We invite them to sit with us and help this wounded nation get back on its feet.”
Khan, 71, a former cricket superstar who has been in jail since August on charges of state secrets, graft, and an unlawful marriage, rejected Sharif’s claim and congratulated his supporters on “winning” the election in an audiovisual message created using artificial intelligence and shared on his X social media account.
Khan said his supporters had shocked everyone with their massive turnout and urged them to celebrate and protect their vote.
He thanked his supporters for their “unprecedented fightback” against the “London plan”, a term he used to refer to an alleged conspiracy by his rival, Sharif, and the powerful military to ouster him from office in 2022.
Khan believes the powerful military is behind a crackdown to hound his party out of existence, while analysts and opponents say Sharif is being backed by the generals, who have ruled Pakistan for much of its history and have a history of meddling in politics.
“I trusted that you all would come out to vote — and you honored that trust,” the jailed leader said in the message. “No one will accept Sharif’s claim because he has won fewer seats and because there has been rigging in the polls.”
Khan also criticized Sharif for making a victory speech, despite trailing behind the PTI-supported candidates by 30 seats. “No Pakistani will accept this,” Khan said. “International media is also writing about that stupidity.”
Khan said that according to independent sources, the PTI-backed candidates were winning over 150 seats before rigging began taking place in some constituencies.
“You have created history,” he added. “You set the foundation for your haqeeqi azaadi (real freedom) by voting yesterday. I congratulate you all for winning the 2024 elections.”
The election commission said it had received results from 244 of the 265 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, by Friday evening, more than 24 hours after polling ended on Thursday.
The results showed that independents, most of them backed by Khan, had won 98 seats, followed by Sharif’s party with 70 seats and the Pakistan Peoples Party, led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of the assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, with 53 seats. The rest were won by small parties and other independents.
The commission said it was still waiting for results from 20 seats, mostly in remote areas, and blamed the delay on the suspension of mobile phone services, a security measure ahead of the election.
The election, which marked the third consecutive transfer of power from one civilian government to another in Pakistan’s history, was marred by allegations of military interference, violence, and irregularities.
The United States, Britain and the European Union separately expressed concerns about Pakistan’s electoral process.
The European Union statement noted a “lack of a level playing field,” attributing that to “the inability of some political actors to contest the elections” and to restrictions to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and internet access.
The U.S. State Department said there were “undue restrictions” on freedoms of expression and assembly while noting violence and attacks on media workers. It also said that claims of irregularities, interference and fraud should be fully investigated.
Some U.S. lawmakers, such as Democratic Representatives Ro Khanna and Ilhan Omar, also expressed concerns, with Khanna saying “the military is interfering and rigging the result.” Both Khanna and Omar urged the State Department not to recognize a winner until investigations are conducted into allegations of misconduct.
Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington, said both the European Union and the U.S. State Department statements were “relatively mild … considering the great scale of the rigging that went down.”
Earlier this week, the United Nations human rights office denounced violence against political parties and candidates. It voiced concern over the “pattern of harassment, arrests and prolonged detentions of leaders and supporters” of Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
The European Union, the United States and Britain said they would work with the next government and did not congratulate any candidate or party.
British Foreign Minister David Cameron’s statement noted “serious concerns raised about the fairness and lack of inclusivity of the elections.”
Analysts had predicted that there may be no clear winner in the election, which would make it difficult to form a stable government and deal with the country’s pressing challenges, such as a looming balance-of-payments crisis, a resurgent Taliban insurgency and strained relations with neighbors.
Independent members cannot form a government on their own under Pakistan’s complex election system, which also includes reserved seats that will be allotted to parties based on their winnings. Independents have the option to join any party after the elections.
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