Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared victory on Friday afternoon, saying his party PMLN won the largest in Thursday’s election. This happened even though the votes were still being counted. Hours later, his main opponent Imran Khan also declared victory in an AI-generated video. The official figures suggest that Imran Khan’s party is still the largest, with 88 representatives. Sharif says, according to Reuters, that they will look to other parties for cooperation, including the PPP, which is led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. This is because they have not been able to collect enough representatives. Addressing the crowd gathered in Lahore, Sharif says his party colleagues will meet other political parties later on Friday to discuss the formation of a coalition government. Sharif will also meet former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is now in prison, on Sunday. This is according to people connected to Imran Khan’s party, according to Reuters. DECLARING ELECTION VICTORY: Supporters of Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif cheer at the Pakistan Muslim League (N) party office in Model Town in Lahore. Photo: Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters Expected to win – then the arrows turned – Yesterday I cried for joy, today everything has turned to shock and disbelief, says Shazia Rauf. She refers to the unofficial results that trickled in after the polls closed last night. There, Khan’s independent candidates led by a clear margin over main challenger PML-N, the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. AFP Nawaz Sharif, PML(N) Nawaz Sharif is a familiar name to most Pakistanis, and is one of three candidates that Pakistanis can vote for in this year’s elections. He is a former prime minister, but had to resign in 2017 following revelations in the Panama Papers document leak. Sharif has previously been banned from running for life, but the Supreme Court decided to overturn this in January this year. He leads the conservative center party PML (N) AFP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, PPPBilawal Bhutto Zardari is the son of former Prime Minister Benezir Bhutto and former President Asif Ali Zardari. He is the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and is the country’s former foreign minister. The PPP is a social democratic party, and is the second largest party in the Pakistani Senate. Zardari has been criticized for not being qualified for the position of leader, with many believing that he has inherited the position. Reuters Fazal-ur-Rehman, JUIFazal-ur-Rehman heads the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, often shortened to JUI. JUI is a conservative Islamist party, and supported the no-confidence motion that removed Imran Khan from power in 2022. Rehman is perceived as a pro-Taliban candidate and has publicly called for international recognition of the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government. Presset Khan’s party Khan is in prison convicted of corruption, and will not be allowed to stand in this year’s elections. He believes he is the victim of a political conspiracy planned by Pakistan’s powerful army and the United States. His party, PTI, has experienced extensive gagging and censorship in the election campaign. In December last year, it was decided that Khan will not be allowed to stand in this year’s election. The decision came a day before the deadline for submitting nomination papers for the provincial and national assembly elections. Photo: Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP The party members have not been able to use PTI’s flag, symbols or images of Imran Khan during the election campaign. Many in the management have been thrown into prison. At one point it was even forbidden to mention Imran Khan’s name on Pakistani television. Imran Khan is Pakistan’s most popular politician. He made a snap election in 2018, and ruled the country until 2022 when he was removed in a vote of no confidence in parliament. Photo: Arif ALI / AFP – Despite the gagging and censorship, the Pakistani people turned up in droves and voted for our leader, says Khan voter Shazia. Throughout the night, millions of Pakistanis sat glued to their TV and mobile screens and followed the election broadcasts that rolled out the results on all TV channels. The picture was clear. Imran Khan’s people were clearly leading in many places. Like in the city of Gujrat, where many Norwegian-Pakistani have roots. Lost votes At 0100 last night, a female Khan candidate in the city had six times more votes than her opponent from Sharif’s party. The candidate Kaisra Ilahi had received more than 30,000 votes against Chaudhry Salik Hussein’s who had 5,000 votes. Photo: Yama Wolasmal / news Nine hours later, the picture looked like this: Hussein had increased support to 105,000, while Ilahi had 80,000. Photo: Yama Wolasmal / news – Who are these mysterious voters who cast their votes in the middle of the night, asks Khan activist Shazia. – We expected that there would be electoral fraud, but not at this level. The vote theft is shameless. But experts in Pakistan are not surprised that the election has turned overnight. They believe it was expected that Khan’s rival Nawaz Sharif would ultimately emerge victorious from the election. The “Lion of Punjab” is going for his fourth term as prime minister. Today, Pakistanis can find out who will rule the country in the coming years. Photo: Aamir QURESHI / / AFP – He is the favorite of the powerful, says Dr. Qamar Cheema, who heads a political think tank in Islamabad. – No one thought they would get so many votes with the restrictions they were subject to, says the expert, who believes the PTI has made a good choice. Photo: Yama Wolasmal / news The army’s man In Pakistan, people refer to the country’s powerful army and intelligence services as “The Establishment”. – This is a repeat of the election in 2018. Then Imran Khan won because he was the army’s “Posterboy”, now Sharif has taken that place, says Cheema. – Has the army rigged the election? – Let’s say that this is so that “The Establishment” gets what they want, says the expert. In Pakistan, people refer to the country’s powerful army and intelligence services as “The Establishment”. Photo: Anjum Naveed / AP Cheema nevertheless believes that Khan’s supporters have reason to be proud. – They have made a very good choice. No one thought they would get so many votes with the restrictions they were subject to. They become a powerful player in Pakistani politics, even if they do not get the majority. Imran Khan is still leading the battle for the 266 seats in the National Assembly, although they have lost much of their lead as of last night. 139 out of 266 seats in the National Assembly have been decided. 55 seats go to Khan, while Nawaz Sharif’s party gets 43, and 35 seats go to Pakistan’s third largest party, the PPP. People stand on the cargo bed of a car and wave the Pakistani flag. More than 128 million Pakistanis could vote in this year’s elections. Photo: Aamir Qureshi / AFP Storm of criticism The anger of many Pakistanis is directed at the Election Commission, which is responsible for conducting the election and counting the votes. Among other things, because they still haven’t published the election results, almost 24 hours after the polling stations closed. The commission rejects the criticism and explains the delay by the fact that the mobile network was switched off. The authorities defend the communications blackout on election day as follows: – This was an anti-terrorist measure. If terrorists had succeeded in detonating five bombs, it would have scared people away from the polling stations, says Information Minister Murtaza Solangi. Pakistan’s interior minister believes that this year’s election is the most organized election in modern Pakistani history. Photo: FAROOQ NAEEM / AFP The authorities are urging people not to spread rumours. – Please, stop spreading rumours, says the country’s interior minister Gohar Ejaz. He believes it damages Pakistan’s reputation and stability and says they took down the mobile network on election day to prevent terrorism, not to tamper with the election. He also believes that this year’s election is the most organized election in modern history. Khan supporter Shazia Rauf agrees that election day itself went smoothly. – Yes, the election day itself went smoothly without any major challenges. The cheating happened during the count, claims the Khan activist. – How can you claim that? What is the evidence? – We have received reports that many of our ballot papers have been stamped twice, claims the Khan supporter. – Banknotes with two stamps are automatically declared invalid. That’s how we’ve lost our lead from yesterday. On social media, Khan supporters are sharing videos allegedly showing election officials stamping ballots multiple times. The videos are not verified. The famous cricket star was not allowed to stand for this year’s election. Nor have they been allowed to use the party’s flag, symbols or pictures of Imran Khan during the election campaign. Photo: Yama Wolasmal / news Fear of riots There are fears that the final election result could trigger unrest in Pakistan. That angry Khan supporters are taking to the streets because they feel cheated of victory. – I am humiliated by people who want to go out into the streets. The dark forces in our country want civil war. Rauf says that the disappointment in the Khan camps can quickly turn to anger. – Do you want to sit quietly if those in power rob your house in broad daylight, asks Khan supporter Shazia Rauf, referring to the votes they cast. She accuses parts of the army and the intelligence services of creating chaos in Pakistan. – Why carry out a farce of an election if the army wanted Nawaz Sharif as prime minister? Then they could have just carried him in a golden chair to the prime minister’s residence.
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Imran Khan also declares victory in Pakistan with KI video – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
