Pakistan election: Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan both assert leadership

With most of the results now announced, no single political group has the most seats in Pakistan’s general elections.

Imran Khan, who used to be the Prime Minister and is now in jail, says he has won the election on Thursday. The people who support him have won the most seats in the election.

But another former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, says his party is the biggest and wants others to join him in working together.

There are rumors that Mr. Sharif’s PML-N party is talking to other groups about teaming up.

The final results have not been announced yet.

In a strong video message on X, using AI, Mr Khan said his PTI party won a big victory, even though he said the government has been trying to stop them.

“I want to say congratulations to all of you for winning the 2024 election. ” The message said, “You have done something very important and never done before. ”

Mr Khan is in jail after being found guilty of crimes he believes are related to politics.

The PTI candidates did better than expected. Most experts thought Mr. Sharif, who they believed had support from the military, would win.

Despite challenges, the election proves that Imran Khan has strong support.

However, the PTI cannot participate in the election, so Mr Sharif’s PML-N is the biggest official political party.

The politicians are making deals, so it might take some time before anyone wins for sure.

On Friday, Mr. Sharif said that he admitted he didn’t have enough support to make a government by himself. But when he talked to his supporters outside his party’s office in Lahore, he asked other candidates to come together with him and work as a group. He also said that he can help the country get through tough times.

On Friday, Imran Khan’s ex-special assistant Zulifkar Bukhari told BBC Newsnight that he doesn’t think Imran Khan’s political party PTI will make a coalition or form a government with any of the major parties.

“But, we will work together as a team. ” To be in parliament – not alone, but with a group, in one political party.

When asked if Mr. Khan might be released, Mr. Bukhari said he is very confident that once they go to the high court and supreme court, Mr. Khan will be released and many of the charges against him will be dropped because of legal and procedural reasons.

The third largest party seems to be the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), led by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in 2007.

Burzine Waghmar, who works at SOAS University of London, said that the elections could be very divisive and dangerous for the unstable country.

As results came in, the UK and US worried about limits on people’s voting rights during the election.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron wants Pakistan’s leaders to respect important human rights, like the right to information and following the rules.

He said he was sorry that not everyone was allowed to run in the elections.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the US State Department named Matthew Miller complained about Pakistan’s election process, saying that there were too many rules limiting freedom of speech, association, and peaceful gatherings.

He said that he is worried about people attacking journalists and limiting access to the internet and phone services, which might interfere with the process.

Many experts believe that this election in Pakistan is not very trustworthy.

People in Lahore said they couldn’t use the internet to book taxis to go vote, and they couldn’t plan with their family when to go to the polling stations.

A person from the interior ministry said the power outages were needed for safety.

Help from the military in Pakistan is important to be successful in politics, and experts think that Mr. Sharif and his party have their support, even though they had disagreements in the past.

Maya Tudor, who is a teacher at the University of Oxford, said that Imran Khan’s PTI leading in the election was surprising considering the country’s history.

Dr Tudor said that if someone else wins the election in Pakistan, it would be very surprising. In the past, the military’s favorite candidate has always won.

Up to 128 million people signed up to vote, and almost half of them were younger than 35. Over 5,000 people ran for 266 seats in the National Assembly, but only 313 of them were women.

Pakistan’s ex-ambassador to the USA, Maleeha Lodhi, said Pakistan really needs a stable government to fix the country’s very bad economic crisis.

However, Ms Lodhi expressed optimism by saying that Pakistan’s high voter turnout indicates a strong belief in the democratic system.