New Delhi: In a setback to the Pakistan Army, independent candidates backed by former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan are surprisingly leading the results that have been announced so far in the country’s general elections.
Pakistani military’s chosen candidate Nawaz Sharif and his party the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) are trailing in several seats.
Polling day Thursday had witnessed mobile services shutdown across Pakistan due to the deteriorating security situation, while at least nine people were killed in bomb blasts, grenade attacks and shootings across the country.
Over 15 hours after polling concluded at 5 pm local time Thursday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has released only the provisional results of 13 out of 266 seats.
PTI-backed Independents have been declared winners in five seats, while PML-N candidates have won in only four. The other party in the fray — Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) — has also won four seats.
Former PM and Sharif’s younger brother Shehbaz Sharif was declared winner in his National Assembly – 123 (NA-123) seat from Lahore in the early results.
PTI has accused the ECP of attempting to rig the voting results leading to the delay.
“Let the world know that the clear and overwhelming mandate of the people of Pakistan is being stolen. Despite unprecedented pre-poll rigging & oppression, there was a record, massive turnout on polling day. Every independent result showed PTI winning by a landslide,” said the PTI on the social media platform X.
Let the world know that the clear and overwhelming mandate of the people of Pakistan is being stolen.
Despite unprecedented pre poll rigging & oppression, there was a record, massive turnout on polling day.
Every independent result showed PTI winning by a landslide.
Form 45s…
— PTI (@PTIofficial) February 9, 2024
Nawaz Sharif, the three-time former PM and the favoured candidate of the Pakistani military forces, is in the fray after his return to Pakistan from his self-imposed exile in October 2023. His main opponent — Khan — has been convicted in cases pertaining to corruption, leaking state secrets and an illegal marriage with his wife Bushra Bibi, and is in jail.
Sharif was barred from holding office after a conviction in corruption cases in 2017 ended his tenure as the head of government early. The courts came to his relief in time to contest the general elections on 8 February.
The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of the ECP personally directed returning officers (ROs), chief secretaries and provisional election commissioners to declare the results immediately, nearly 10 hours after polling closed, according to the ECP spokesperson.
The PTI has faced a state-sanctioned crackdown, losing its famous “cricket bat” symbol in the run-up to the elections. Its candidates had to register to run as Independents across the country.
Also read: Sweet talk to force, Pakistan army is on a drive to wipe out Imran Khan’s PTI. Can it win?
Violence and booth capturing marked polling day
At least five people were killed in North Waziristan, with reports emerging of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) capturing polling booths in the district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on polling day.
At least nine people were killed, including two children, on polling day due to bomb blasts, grenade attacks and targeted shootings, according to Reuters. Five police officers were killed in a bomb blast and targeted firing in Dera Ismail district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while two children were killed outside a polling station in Balochistan.
One person was killed after gunmen opened fire at the vehicle of security forces in Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The attacks occurred even after the interior ministry suspended mobile and internet services across the country Thursday.
Mohsin Dawar, the chairman of the Pashtun nationalist political party — the National Democratic Movement — alleged that the TTP captured a few polling booths in North Waziristan district in a letter to the ECP, as reported by ThePrint earlier.
The US has strongly condemned the violence witnessed during the elections, as well as the violence witnessed in the run up of the elections.
“We strongly condemn all instances of election-related violence, both in the weeks preceding elections as well as those that transpired on election day. These kinds of election-related violence, we believe, affected a broad range of political parties across Pakistan. It impacted polling stations, election officers, as well as the election commission,” said Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson of the US department of state during a department press briefing Thursday.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray)
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