Imran allies lead in last leg of Pak vote count

No clear winner, PML trying to form coalition with independents

FE Team | Published: February 09, 2024 23:33:42

ISLAMABAD, Feb 9 (Agencies): Candidates loyal to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan edged ahead in Pakistan's election Friday, in front of the two dynastic parties believed favoured by the military, as the vote count entered its final leg.
Khan was barred from contesting Thursday's election and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was subject to a sweeping crackdown -- blocked from holding rallies and taken off the ballot, forcing candidates to run as independents.
But the latest results in a slow counting process showed PTI loyalists had so far won around 70 of the more than 200 seats called for the 266-member national assembly. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had won around 60 and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) around 40 as night fell Friday.
Analysts have predicted there may be no clear winner, adding to the woes of a country struggling to recover from an economic crisis while it grapples with rising militant violence in a deeply polarised political environment.
"A timely announcement of the results, leading to a smooth formation of a new government will reduce policy and political uncertainty," Moody's Investors Service said. "This is crucial for the country that is facing very challenging macroeconomic conditions."
The delay in the announcement of results was unusual for elections in Pakistan.
Karachi's stock index and Pakistan's sovereign bonds fell because of the uncertainty.
An "internet issue" was the reason behind the delay, Zafar Iqbal, special secretary at the ECP, said without elaborating.
The main electoral battle was expected to be between candidates backed by Khan, whose PTI won the last national election, and the PML-N of Sharif. Khan believes the powerful military is behind a crackdown to hound his party out of existence, while analysts and opponents say Sharif is being backed by the generals.
The military has dominated the nuclear-armed country either directly or indirectly in its 76 years of independence but for several years it has maintained it does not interfere in politics.
Sharif, considered by many observers to be a strong candidate, has dismissed talk of an unclear result but a close aide, Ishaq Dar, told GEO TV that the party could form a coalition with the support of independents.
"I am confident that we will form a government," Dar said.
Independent members cannot form a government on their own under Pakistan's complex election system which also includes reserved seats that will be allotted to parties based on their winnings.
But independent members have the option to join any party after the elections. Candidates who run as independents can nominate affiliation to any party within 72 hours of victory -- a practice that frequently leads to horse-trading and deal-making in Pakistan politics and which could imperil PTI's success.
Khan is in jail and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was barred from the election, so his supporters contested as independents.
Most of the seats won by PTI-backed candidates were in its stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while results were still coming in for the most populous province of Punjab, won by PTI in the last election but where the family of former premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N has historically held sway.
Unofficial tallies on local TV stations had independents in the lead for many of the remaining seats up for grabs.
"But even if PTI is unable to form a government, the elections show there are limits to political engineering," said Bilal Gilani, executive director of polling group Gallup Pakistan.
"It shows that the military does not always get their way -- that is the silver lining," he told AFP.
The election was marred by violence, mostly in the border regions neighbouring Afghanistan, with 61 attacks nationwide, the interior ministry said Friday.
At least 16 people were killed -- including 10 security force members -- and 54 wounded.
More than 650,000 army, paramilitary and police personnel were deployed to provide security.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said the delay in results was due to a day-long mobile network shutdown imposed by the government during voting on Thursday.