International

Jailed ex-PM Imran Khan’s party wins most seats in Pakistan’s elections

February 10, 2024 8:39 pm

Candidates backed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of Imran Khan, the jailed former prime minister of Pakistan, have won the most seats in the country’s general election.

The results of the polls which were held on Thursday were announced by the country’s electoral commission on Saturday.

According to the commission, independent candidates, mostly backed by PTI, are well ahead with 100 seats.

The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) party headed by Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, which had been favoured to sweep the polls, came second with 73 seats. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was in third place with 54 seats.

Results are still not in for 10 of the 265 seats contested in the election.

However, none of the three major parties of the country will win the necessary 169 seats to have a majority in parliament.

They will be unable to form the government on their own, leaving it unclear who will be picked to be the country’s next prime minister.

Gohar Khan, PTI chairman, who also acts as the former prime minister’s lawyer, called on “all institutions” in Pakistan to respect his party’s mandate.

He said if complete results of the polls were not released by Saturday night, the party would hold peaceful protests on Sunday outside government offices returning election results around the country.

Violent protests had already broken out on Friday over allegations of vote rigging and the slow vote count, leaving at least two people dead and 24 injured.

The country’s human rights commission said the “lack of transparency” surrounding the delay in announcing the election results was “deeply concerning”.

Meanwhile, Sharif said his PMLN party had emerged with the “largest share”.

He admitted that his party did not have the “majority to form a government” and was looking for coalition partners.

In a speech on Friday, an AI-generated version of Khan claimed victory in the election and called on his supporters to “now show the strength of protecting your vote”.

Khan, who has been behind bars on allegations of corruption, had asked his supporters to take revenge for every injustice by their vote while remaining peaceful.