Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan rallied his supporters from the jail as members of his party, contesting as independents, won 101 seats in the recently concluded Pakistan general elections. But the nation is still on the edge of uncertainty, as none of the parties managed to cross the 133 mark needed to form the government.
The situation now hinges on political horse-trading, as parties scramble to cobble together alliances to prove their majority. The odds seem stacked against PTI, with both Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari inclined on keeping Imran Khan away from the country’s top office at any cost.
The two leaders have already launched alliance talks, but even with the combined strength, they will fall short of the majority by 6 seats.
The coalition, if it happens, could have the upper hand, with Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) securing 73 seats and Bilawal Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) winning 54 seats. Together, they fall six seats short of the 133 seats needed to form a government.
The final tally was released over 60 hours after voting concluded in Thursday’s national elections, a delay that has raised questions about the process.
Despite the ban and Imran Khan’s imprisonment for convictions on charges ranging from leaking state secrets to corruption and an unlawful marriage, millions of the former cricketer’s supporters came out to vote for him, even though he cannot be part of any government while he remains in prison.
One disadvantage the independents face in trying to form a government is they are not eligible to be allocated any of parliament’s 70 reserved seats, which are distributed according to party strength in the final tally. Sharif’s party could get up to 20 of these seats.
The election commission previously flagged that results for two seats could not yet be included – one in which a candidate was killed requiring the postponement of polling, and another in which polling would be completed later this month.
Amid the political maneuvering, PTI has raised allegations of result tampering. Imran Khan’s party has taken the matter to court and organised protests against the alleged manipulation. The coming days are crucial, as the nation watches closely to see how the political landscape unfolds, and whether a stable government can emerge in a country that is already struggling to recover from an economic crisis.
