Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, ousted 14 years ago in a military coup, has claimed victory in the country’s landmark democratic election, securing at least one-third of the seats in the national legislature, according to early results.
Of the 86 millions of Pakistanis eligible to vote, some 60
percent turned out to polling stations despite threats of violence from the Taliban.
“If this election was between despair and defiance, defiance
did win,” said RT correspondent Lucy Kafanov, who was following
the events in Pakistan. “People did turn out in droves. We saw
immense excitement at the polling stations.”
The Pakistani Taliban assailed what they called an ‘anti-Islamic
election,’ killing over 30 people in a series of blasts and gun
attacks on polling stations across the country. Despite the chaos,
the Election Commission commended the extraordinary voter turnout,
cited as the highest since 1977.
Sharif declared victory late on Saturday. He announced the
unofficial triumph of his Pakistan Muslim League ( N ) (MPL-N) to a
crowd of supporters in Lahore. Saturday’s voting eliminates decades
of two-party dominance by the PML-N and Pakistan People’s Party
(PPP), and marks the first-ever electoral transition between
civilian governments in the country’s history.
Preliminary results showed that Sharif’s party took an
overwhelming lead, but may fall just short of winning a simple
majority of 272 directly elected National Assembly seats; he may
now be forced to broker a coalition government with other
parties.
The high turnout is seen as a sign of Pakistanis’ desire for
change. “By and large, we can say that this was a successful
democratic election, across the country,” Kafanov said,
commenting on Sharif’s victory announcement.
“Mr Sharif [is] on the road to being PM for a 3rd time in his
career, and in fact he took to the stage… saying that the party
thanks Allah for the opportunity to serve Pakistan again,” she
added.
Imran Khan, a cricket star-turned-politician, also commanded a
large support base, waging a motivational campaign at the country’s
younger generation. His Pakistan Movement for Justice (PTI) didn’t
win the “tsunami of support” he predicted during the campaign, but
may become part of a coalition government should MPL-N fail to win
enough seats, or lead the opposition.
Khan’s party is “poised to become Pakistan’s second-largest
party,” Kafanov said, underlining the significance of the
support for him for the Pakistan People’s Party, which formed the
outgoing government.
“It shows a mandate for change, it shows that Pakistanis do
want difference in their electoral outcome, and it certainly shows
that the large problems that the outgoing government has had to
deal with — unemployment, economic problems, the rising threat of
violence —
This article originally appeared on : RT