Islamabad:
Despite a divisive election in Pakistan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independence party showed a lead, leaving many to wonder whether the country, which has been grappling with numerous challenges of late, is in the lead. According to “Dawn News”, in the past, mainly on the economic front, the country was expected to have its first independent prime minister.
Despite accusations of fraud and electoral malpractice by the PTI, independents backed by the party founded by former Prime Minister Imran Khan took the lead in the counting of the most seats.
Although the trend was not to be, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif gave a premature victory speech signaling his willingness to form a coalition government.
However, if the trend reported by sections of Pakistan’s media and social media circles continues, Pakistan is likely to elect an independent government.
Although, as trends show, PTI received a majority of the votes, it is still at a significant disadvantage due to the ECP’s decision to remove its iconic ‘bat’ symbol and a series of cases against its top brass, Dawn reported. Top leaders still behind bars. This means that even if its backed candidate wins the top seats, the party may not be able to form a government because it will not receive a quota of minority seats.
However, the Press Trust of India reportedly has the option of announcing an independent prime ministerial candidate to run the country.
“During General Ziaul Haq’s time, the entire parliament was made up of independents,” journalist Wusatullah Khan said, according to Dawn newspaper.
Recalling the country’s non-partisan elections in 1985, he said no political party was allowed to participate in the elections and everyone ran for office in an individual capacity. “Obviously everyone has someone’s support, but on the surface they’re all on their own,” he said.
The returning candidates took to Parliament and named their group or party “Pakistan Muslim League”.
“Today, we call it PML-N or PML-Q, before it was called Chattha League. They were both born in the non-partisan convention in 1985,” he recalled.
Another journalist, Shahzeb Jilani, said once returning candidates are notified, they will have three days to decide whether they want to support a party independently or join a party as a group.
Meanwhile, Dawn News quoted sources as saying that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zal Dari, co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari held a meeting in Lahore.
The meeting came shortly after Nawaz declared victory in a general election held the day before and invited his allies to form a coalition government.
Both PPP and PML-N are part of the PDM government, which succeeded PTI after Imran Khan was ousted from the Prime Minister’s Office in 2022.
Meanwhile, independent candidates, mainly backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), are leading with 82 seats, according to unofficial provisional results reported by Dawn News in 212 of the 266 seats.
On the other hand, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged as the largest party with 64 seats, followed by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) with 40 seats.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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