Pakistan’s army chief yesterday told feuding politicians to show “maturity and unity” after an election failed to produce a clear winner, leaving the military’s favored party having to cobble together a coalition to rule.
The country faces days of political horse-trading after a strong performance by independent candidates loyal to jailed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan scuppered the chances of the army-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from winning a ruling majority.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) defied a months-long crackdown that crippled campaigning and forced candidates to run as independents with a combined showing that still challenged their rivals.
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The military looms large over Pakistan’s political landscape, with generals having run the country for nearly half its history since the partition from India in 1947.
“Elections are not a zero-sum competition of winning and losing, but an exercise to determine the mandate of the people,” Pakistani Chief of the Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir said in a statement released by the military. “As the people of Pakistan have reposed their combined trust in the Constitution of Pakistan, it is now incumbent upon all political parties to reciprocate the same with political maturity and unity.”
After long delays in results that prompted further allegations that the military had engaged in vote-rigging, PML-N declared victory on Friday as the party with the largest number of seats.
However, to form a government, the party founded by three-time former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif would be forced to cut deals with rivals and independents.
There were reports late on Friday of leaders from several parties arriving in PML-N’s power base of Lahore for talks.
“We don’t have enough of a majority to run the government ourselves, therefore we invite the other parties and candidates who have been successful to work with us,” Sharif said at his party headquarters in the city.
In an artificial intelligence-generated (AI) video produced by PTI, Khan was credited as claiming victory for the party.
“According to independent sources, we were winning 150 national assembly seats before the rigging started,” said the message on Khan’s X account, which featured a genuine video clip of him from a year ago and an AI-generated voice-over.
A slow counting process showed independents had won at least 100 seats — 89 of them loyal to Khan — by yesterday morning.
PML-N took 71 and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) snapped up 54, with 13 of the elected 266-seat Pakistani National Assembly still to be announced.
Minor parties shared 27 seats between them — including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which took 17 — which are likely to be of great interest to PTI in the coming days.
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