By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s major political parties scrambled on Sunday to form a new coalition government at the federal and provincial levels, three days after a closely contested general election that left no party with a clear majority and raised allegations of vote rigging and military interference.
According to unofficial and incomplete results, none of the parties were close to the 133-seat threshold needed for a simple majority in the 336-member National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, raising the prospect of a hung parliament and a coalition government.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by the jailed leader Imran Khan, claimed victory and said it had secured 170 seats in the 342-member National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament.
“We say this with great confidence that right now, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has gained 170 seats of the [National Assembly],” PTI leader Barrister Gohar Khan told reporters in Islamabad. “Of these 170 seats, 94 are the same that the election commission is admitting.”
As the results continued to trickle in on early Sunday, independent candidates, most of whom were loyal to Khan’s PTI party, had won 100 seats, according to official results shared by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is seen as the frontrunner, had secured 76 seats, followed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007, secured 54 parliamentary seats.
The PTI rejected the results in several constituencies, alleging widespread fraud and interference by the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 74-year history and has a history of meddling in politics.
“Our victory had been turned into defeat on 22 seats, including three in Islamabad, four in Sindh, and the rest in the Punjab province,” Barrister Khan said.
It was a stunning upset for jailed Khan, whose party had defied a months-long crackdown that included restrictions on campaigning, with many of its leaders in jail or barred from running. Khan himself was absent from the elections as he has been in prison since August last year and is also disqualified from contesting elections for ten years.
The election was seen as a historic milestone for Pakistan, as it marked only the country’s third-ever democratic transition of power. However, the allegations of military meddling cast a shadow over the process and raised doubts about the legitimacy of the new government.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who also claims to have won the polls, said he would seek to form a coalition government.
This time again, the PPP of Bhutto Zardari has emerged as a potential kingmaker, with sizeable representation in the national assembly and a strong base in its home province of Sindh.
“PPP has representation in all the provinces, and no government in Punjab, Balochistan, and the Centre can be formed without our support,” Bilawal said while speaking to a local television channel.
Bilawal said it would be premature to say who is forming the government as results from some constituencies were still awaited.
“We don’t know the whole count nor have independents announced their decisions.”
Analysts said the days ahead are likely to see political feuding and possible horse trading as the PML-N and the PPP — in their battle to hold sway over parliament where the most important decisions require a two-thirds majority — scramble to form alliances with independents and smaller parties.
Though the temptation to jump Khan’s ship and join another party forming the government will be high and could make the independents a political wild card in the coming days, PTI-backed candidates have repeatedly said they will not join the mainstream parties but return to the fold of Khan’s party once it wins back its bat symbol, of which it was stripped ahead of the elections.
The party had lost its symbol because the election commission said it did not hold intra-party elections as required by the law.
Analysts said there are two possible scenarios after the announcement of the final results. The most likely possibility is a coalition government that includes all political parties, except the PTI. This would include the two largest parties, the PPP and the PML-N, as well as smaller parties and independent candidates.
The second scenario, less likely but technically possible, is the PPP joining hands with the PTI and forming a government.
The election, which was marred by violence and allegations of pre-poll rigging, was seen as a test of Pakistan’s fragile democracy, which has rarely seen a peaceful transfer of power from one elected government to another.
Pakistan’s powerful military called for political parties to form a “unified government” that would help the country move on from the politics of “anarchy and polarization.”
“Pakistan’s diverse polity and pluralism will be well-represented by a unified government of all democratic forces imbibed with national purpose,” the army chief said in a statement shared by the military’s media wing.
“Elections and democracy are means to serve people of Pakistan and not ends in themselves. The nation needs stable hands and a healing touch to move on from the politics of anarchy and polarization which does not suit a progressive country of 250 million people.”
Munir also called for political parties to show “maturity and unity” and for politicians and their supporters to “rise above self-interests” and work together to make Pakistan’s democracy “functional and purposeful.”
However, PTI came hard on General Munir
“Healing touch would mean that you [army] got to make sure that there are no political prisoners anymore in Pakistan,” Barrister Khan was quoted as saying by foreign media. “[PTI] mandate has to be respected. Short of it there can be no healing touch.”
Barrister Khan also said that a united government did not mean a coalition government, but rather a government that respected the people’s mandate.
“United government means that every party should be united in one thing, which is that you have to respect and regard people’s mandate first,” he said. “The people have spoken [through the vote] and for the first time they have spoken in a very tough situation [amid a crackdown against PTI].”
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
