Surprising Victory for Imran Khan’s Supporters Despite Election Challenges

The former Pakistani prime minister anticipated that his party would easily win the legislative elections and propel him to the position for a record-breaking fourth term in office. Rather, Nawaz Sharif’s road to power is a challenging one.

Following claims by Imran Khan’s followers and a national rights organization that the balloting was rigged to favor Sharif, independent candidates supported by his imprisoned opponent were leading the vote count on Friday. This was an unexpectedly strong showing.

That threw off Sharif’s plans and those of the security establishment that supported him, prompting him to declare his intentions to try to build a coalition government on Friday.

Sharif had angrily rejected the notion of a coalition the day before, telling reporters with confidence that he preferred one party to govern Pakistan for a full five-year term following his vote.

Due to prior criminal convictions, Khan—a former cricket star who is now an Islamist politician with a sizable grassroots following—was unable to compete in Thursday’s election. He claims political motivations were behind his sentencing and the several court lawsuits that are still pending against him.

The candidates of Khan’s party were prohibited from putting the party symbol, a cricket bat, on ballots to make themselves easier to find for illiterate voters, thus they were compelled to run as independents.

Notwithstanding these reverses, candidates supported by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, had won 99 seats in the National Assembly, with the majority of the 266 constituencies declared by the election supervision body. The Pakistan Muslim League, led by Sharif, held 71 seats. In one constituency, the death of a candidate forced a postponement of the election.

But with a third major party in the mix, it was impossible for anyone to claim victory entirely.

In an acknowledgement to his followers, Sharif said, “We invite allies to join the coalition so we can make joint efforts to pull Pakistan out of its problems. We don’t have enough of a majority to form a government without the support of others.”

He declared, “To settle all matters, we will have to sit down together.”

Nonetheless, given Pakistan’s extreme political divisions, it seems unlikely that a powerful alliance will emerge to advocate for the improvement of a nation beset by persistent energy shortages, high rates of inflation, and terrorist attacks.

Sharif’s family members and supporters continued to appear on a balcony at his party headquarters and wave to the throngs below despite the absence of a majority. When Sharif arrived to address the party workers, people showered his car with rose petals.

PTI chairman Gohar Khan, meanwhile, told Pakistani news outlet Geo that his party’s internal tally indicated it had secured 150 seats in total, which was sufficient to form a government. However, a majority of 169 members is needed in the 336-seat National Assembly, or lower house of parliament.

Given the difficulties Khan’s party was facing, observers had anticipated that Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League would win and set him up for a fourth term as prime minister. In addition to being imprisoned and risking more criminal convictions, Khan’s party was prohibited from holding rallies, opening campaign offices, and hosting online events by election officials and law enforcement.