New Delhi: Two days after polls closed in Pakistan, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independents have won at least 100 seats – making it the largest voting bloc in the National Assembly. Khan has declared victory, while party leaders have said that the former prime minister, currently behind bars, will decide the next leader of the country.
The result is a major setback for Nawaz Sharif — the Pakistani military’s favoured candidate — whose party the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was able to win only 73 of the 266 seats directly elected.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has not declared the results for all constituencies yet. Of 266 seats, results for 265 will be released as elections were postponed for one constituency, NA – 8 Bajaur in Khyber Pakhthunkwa. Voting was postponed for this constituency following the assassination of independent candidate Rehan Zeb Khan on 31 January.
The elections, marred by violence, a state crackdown on the PTI and delayed results, have faced further scrutiny from countries around the world. The US, the UK and the European Union (EU) have all called for investigations into allegations of irregularities and fraud.
On 8 February, Pakistan’s ministry of interior temporarily suspended mobile services in lieu of the deteriorating security situation. Political parties across the spectrum called for intervention from the Pakistani Supreme Court, with the decision also decried by the US and the EU.
While Sharif claimed victory in a rally Friday, his path to premiership would require a coalition with either Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), or a deal with the independents loyal to Khan.
Khan is currently in jail after being convicted in cases pertaining to alleged corruption, leakage of state secrets and an ‘illegal marriage’ to Bushra Bibi. While an anti-terrorism court Saturday granted him bail in 12 cases linked to the 9 May violence, Khan remains in jail for the foreseeable future.
His former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has also been convicted in cases and remains in prison, despite receiving bail in 13 cases linked to the 9 May violence from the same anti-terrorism court that granted bail to Khan Saturday.
Khan’s party did not fare any better in the run-up to the polls, being stripped of its famous “cricket bat” electoral symbol and registering its candidates to run as independents in the 8 February polls.
Despite the state crackdown on the PTI, its candidates have now won the most number of seats in the National Assembly, with its leader outside of jail – Gohar Ali Khan – claiming that the party will form the next government in Pakistan, according to local media.
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What next?
With independents winning the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, negotiations are now on between the various political actors in Pakistan. Late Friday evening, former prime minister and Sharif’s younger brother Shehbaz Sharif met with Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Lahore, according to local media reports.
Zardari and Bhutto Zardari’s PPP have won at least 54 seats according to the provisional results published by the ECP, making the party the kingmaker for any government going forward.
The total number of seats in the National Assembly this year is 336, requiring a 169-seat majority to govern the country. While 266 seats are directly elected by universal adult franchise in a first-past-the-post system, the remaining 70 seats are shared proportionally as they are reserved for women and minority candidates.
The 70 seats are allocated proportionally to political parties, thereby leaving the PTI-backed independents with a handicap – their number will remain the same unless they choose to join a party after the results are announced.
The PTI-backed independents have three days to announce their choice going forward: to remain as independents, form a bloc, or merge with a political party in the National Assembly.
According to Pakistani newspaper Dawn, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), which had before the election supported Nawaz Sharif’s candidature has had a re-think and invited the independents to merge with their party. The MQM-P has won 17 seats in the National Assembly so far.
Similarly, the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM), which has won one seat in the National Assembly and has previously had ties with the PTI since 2014 is an option for the independents to merge their bloc into and also win the reserved seats, according to Dawn.
International criticism
The US called for instances of “fraud” to be fully investigated in a statement released by Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US department of state. The EU and the UK echoed Washington’s calls for a probe into the allegations of interference and fraud in the elections.
“We condemn electoral violence, restrictions on the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including attacks on media workers, and restrictions on access to the Internet and telecommunication services, and are concerned about allegations of interference in the electoral process. Claims of interference or fraud should be fully investigated,” said Miller in the statement published by the US department of state Friday.
The EU’s statement also published Friday similarly regretted the lack of a level playing field in the elections and the allegations of “severe” interference during the elections.
“We therefore call upon the relevant authorities to ensure a timely and full investigation of all reported election irregularities and to implement the recommendations of the upcoming EU Election Expert Mission report,” added the EU statement.
The UK’s foreign secretary Lord David Cameron also shared similar views and urged the authorities in Pakistan to “uphold fundamental human rights” and ensure a “transparent judicial system, free from interference”.
The Pakistan foreign office rejected the criticisms levelled against the election processes by foreign countries in a statement by its spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch Saturday.
“We are surprised by the negative tone of some of these statements, which neither take into account the complexity of the electoral process nor acknowledge the free and enthusiastic exercise of the right to vote by tens of millions of Pakistanis,” said Baloch.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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