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.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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