KUALA LUMPUR – Former Pakistani prime ministers and bitter rivals Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif both declared victory in elections yesterday, despite delayed results and militant attacks exacerbating the country’s political turmoil.
According to a BBC report, independent candidates linked to Imran have won the most seats so far, with the majority of seats declared.
Nawaz also declared that his party had emerged as the largest victor and encouraged others to join him in forming a coalition.
No group or party appears to be on course to win an overall majority. The final results are yet to be announced.
In a staunch video message posted on X created using AI, Imran claimed his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had won a “landslide victory” despite what he has called a crackdown on his party.
He is currently in jail, having been convicted in cases he said are politically motivated.
The success of the PTI-linked candidates was unexpected, with most experts agreeing that Nawaz, believed to be backed by the country’s powerful military, was the clear favourite.
However, PTI is not a recognised party after being barred from running in the election, so technically, Nawaz’s Pakistan Muslim League or PML-N is the largest official political group.
So now the political horse-trading begins in earnest, which means it could still be a while before anyone can claim outright victory.
In a speech yesterday, Nawaz acknowledged that he did not have the numbers to form a government alone.
While addressing supporters outside his party’s headquarters in the city of Lahore, he urged other candidates to join him in a coalition and said he could remove the country from difficult times.
Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight programme yesterday, Imran’s former special assistant Zulifkar Bukhari said: “Knowing Imran Khan and knowing the ethos of our political party, PTI, I don’t think we’ll be making any coalitions or forming a government with any of the main parties.
“However, we will be forming a coalition…to be in Parliament – not as an independent but under one banner, one party,” he said.
When asked about whether Imran could potentially be released, Zulifkar said: “I think the minute we go to the high court and the supreme court, we are extremely confident that he will be released, and a lot of the charges – if not all – will be thrown out on legal merit and procedural merit.”
The third biggest party appears to be the Pakistan People’s Party, led by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of PM Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007. – February 10, 2024