Pakistani army demands unity as both former prime ministers proclaim triumph

Pakistan’s strong army leader has asked the country to stop fighting and being divided as two former prime ministers claimed they won the election, which was unexpected.

Most of the votes are counted, and candidates not affiliated with any political party, but connected to the imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, have won the majority of the seats.

Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister who is believed to have the army’s support, has asked others to join him in forming a coalition.

Authorities have also dismissed criticism from Western countries about how the election was conducted.

General Asim Munir asked everyone to be mature and work together. He said that a country with 250 million people should not have politics that divides people.

“Gen Munir said that elections are not just about winning or losing, but about deciding what the people want. ”

Fourteen seats in the National Assembly still need to be decided in Balochistan, a big province with few people. Both Khan and Mr. Sharif claim they have won.

Mr Khan made a computer-generated video saying he doesn’t agree with his rival and asking his supporters to have a party. He was put in jail for sharing government secrets, being corrupt and having an illegal marriage. His PTI party is not allowed to join the elections.

About 100 of the winning candidates don’t belong to any political party and almost all of them have the support of the PTI, according to the Free and Fair Election Network.

Mr Sharif’s PML-N party got 71 seats and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s PPP got 53. The smaller parties and independent candidates won the remaining seats.

The PML-N party is talking to other groups about working together. No one has won for sure yet.

Mr Sharif said he doesn’t have enough support to run the government by himself, but thinks he can lead a group of people to help the country during tough times.

On Friday, the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union all said they were worried about whether the election was fair. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated that he had big worries about how fair and open the elections were.

But Pakistan’s government said this was not even true.

It said the statements did not consider how complicated the voting process is, or recognize that millions of Pakistanis freely and happily voted.

There were a few times when people said there was fighting during the election. Mohsin Dawar, a former government official and leader of the National Defense Movement Party, was shot and hurt in Miranshah, North Waziristan. Another party member was killed in the same incident.

There were reports of a protest in a city called Gwadar in Balochistan province. Some voters said that there were problems with how the votes were being counted.