Pakistan faces a interval of uncertainty with the election outcomes displaying no clear majority and two opposing political leaders, Nawaz Sharif from Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN) and Imran Khan from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), declaring victory.
Full outcomes of Thursday’s elections have been nonetheless not in for 9 of the 265 seats contested late on Saturday.
Independent candidates, principally linked to jailed chief Khan’s PTI, are effectively forward with 102 seats, in accordance with the newest tally posted on the election fee’s web site. Meanwhile, Sharif’s PMLN is in second place, having secured 73 seats, adopted by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) with 54.
“This is probably the most controversial election in Pakistan’s history,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad.
He mentioned the chairman of PTI, Gohar Ali Khan, is assured his occasion will likely be within the nationwide parliament in addition to within the province of Punjab, the place they’re claiming to have a majority. They have additionally swept the polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Meanwhile, PMLN’s Sharif, who additionally claims to have received the polls, mentioned he would search to type a coalition authorities. And the PPP’s Zardari careworn there can’t be a formation of a federal authorities, in addition to in Punjab and Balochistan provinces, with out his PPP occasion.
According to Al Jazeera’s Abid Hussain, two days after the polls have closed, a break up mandate has emerged among the many massive three political powers and there may be little readability about what comes subsequent.
“With such a split, the big question now rests on who will be able to form a government in Pakistan, a country of 241 million people which has suffered a turbulent two years with political instability, an economy on the verge of default and rising internal security challenges,” Hussain mentioned.
Pakistani analyst Zaigham Khan mentioned there are two potential situations after the announcement of preliminary outcomes.
“The most likely scenario is a coalition government that includes all political parties – minus the PTI,” Khan advised Al Jazeera. This will embody the 2 largest political events, PPP and PMLN, in addition to MQM, Jamaat-e-Islami and others.
“The second scenario, less likely but technically possible, is the PPP joining hands with the PTI and forming a government,” the analyst mentioned. The PTI-affiliated candidates who ran as independents have gathered the biggest variety of seats.
Protests
With the nation nonetheless awaiting the ultimate outcomes, protests erupted throughout the nation for the second consecutive day, with demonstrators claiming that the election outcome delay is permitting authorities to rig the vote-counting.
NetBlocks reported a nationwide disruption of social media platform X throughout polling. The PTI has referred to as the interruption “absolutely shameful”.
Election watchdog Free and Fair Election Network mentioned it gave the Election Commission of Pakistan a typically optimistic evaluation of the way it carried out polls, and mentioned that delays in saying outcomes “overshadowed an otherwise orderly election”, elevating questions concerning the legitimacy of the end result.
“In addition, the caretaker government’s suspension of cellular and internet services on election day – regardless of the security reasons – undermined years of parliamentary efforts to reform the election results management process,” it added in its preliminary report.
Meanwhile, the United States, United Kingdom and European Union have expressed issues about Pakistan’s electoral course of, mentioning allegations of interference – together with arrests of occasion staff – and added that claims of irregularities, interference and fraud needs to be totally investigated.
In an announcement on Saturday, Pakistan’s international workplace mentioned feedback by “certain countries and organisations” ignored the “undeniable fact” of Pakistan holding elections peacefully and efficiently whereas coping with safety threats.
‘Stable hands’
Amid frustration and uncertainty amongst folks in Pakistan, the top of the nation’s highly effective military made his first public assertion for the reason that vote.
“The nation needs stable hands and a healing touch to move on from the politics of anarchy and polarisation, which does not suit a progressive country of 250 million people,” mentioned General Syed Asim Munir, in accordance with an announcement from the navy on Saturday.
“Elections are not a zero-sum competition of winning and losing but an exercise to determine the mandate of the people,” the assertion quoted Munir as saying.
“Political leadership and their workers should rise above self-interests and synergise efforts in governing and serving the people, which is perhaps the only way to make democracy functional and purposeful.”
The navy is a dominant participant within the nation’s political affairs and immediately dominated it for greater than three a long time since 1947.
Ayesha Siddiqa, senior fellow at King’s College London, mentioned Pakistan’s military has been hoping for a weak coalition to be fashioned beneath the PMLN management.
“In a way, these are the results we got,” Siddiqa advised Al Jazeera. “But I would also argue that these are not the results they expected. They did the most to ensure that voter turnout was low, but people came out with a passion.”
Siddiqa mentioned the military was more likely to again a coalition authorities bringing collectively the PMLN and the PPP, however that it was nonetheless not sure who would lead it, if Bhutto Zardari, Shehbaz Sharif or Nawaz Sharif.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/10/pakistans-khan-sharif-claim-election-win-despite-no-clear-majority?traffic_source=rss
