Protests underway amid allegations of ‘rigging’: All you need to know about Pakistan elections

Both Imran Khan and Shehbaz Sharif have claimed victory in the violence-marred Pakistan general elections held on Thursday.

According to Dawn, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sharif has reached out to Asif Ali Zardari of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to form an alliance. Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, which was invited by the PML-N, has also reached Lahore to take part in the talks, according to the report.

The Election Commission, meanwhile, has ordered re-polling on February 15 in around 52 polling stations amid allegations of rigging, Dawn reported.

Here’s a look at what unfolded in Pakistan this election season:

Who are the political contenders this year?

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its key leader and former PM Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by Imran Khan, and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), projecting former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto as the Prime Ministerial candidate, are the key figures in this year’s elections.

Who stands where after voting?

The voting, on February 8, took place for 265 seats in the Pakistan National Assembly, with the next Prime Minister requiring a simple majority of 169 votes to be sworn in.

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Even though Independents backed by Khan continue to lead, both leaders have claimed victory, throwing the country into further uncertainty.

So far, results for 256 seats have been declared. Independent candidates who supported Imran Khan’s PTI won 102 seats, Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (N) managed just 73 seats, and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) got 54.

Why are PML-N and PPP in talks to form a coalition government?

The fractured mandate led the PML-N to reach out to the PPP to form a coalition government. A day after Pakistan voted in national elections, PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif met with PPP’s Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto in Lahore on Friday (February 9) to discuss the results and the post-election situation, according to a report by Dawn.

It will not be the first time that the PML-N and PPP will come together to form a coalition. The two parties have done so in 2008 and 2022.

In 2006, PML-N’s chief Nawaz Sharif and PPP’s leader Benazir Bhutto decided to come together against then-president Pervez Musharraf, who came to power after orchestrating a military coup in 1999. After he clashed with the Supreme Court and particularly Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Musharraf declared a state of emergency in 2007 and was forced to announce national elections due to protests and external pressure.

In the polls, the PPP got the most seats and went on to form the government with the PML-N, which, however, lasted only a few months.

In 2018, PTI’s Imran Khan wiped out the PPP and PML-N, and the two parties came together in September 2020 to isolate Khan politically and undermine the credibility of the military. They formed a “collaborative anti-government coalition” called the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which included smaller parties as well. It succeeded in overthrowing Khan in April 2022 following a vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly, with Shehbaz Sharif emerging as the Prime Minister and Bilawal Bhutto becoming the Foreign Affairs Minister.

What’s up with Imran Khan?

On May 9, 2023, Khan was arrested in Islamabad while he was in the Islamabad High Court premises to attend the hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust case. The case involves Khan, his wife, Bushra Bibi, and other PTI leaders, facing a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiry for allegedly “accepting Rs 5 billion and hundreds of kanals (of land) from Bahria Town (an Islamabad-based real estate company) in exchange for protecting the firm in a money laundering case”.

His arrest led to massive protests in the country, and clashes with police personnel.

In November last year, Khan was also arrested in a case against them for allegedly leaking state secrets and violating the laws of the country, along with his close aide ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. He was also arrested for hiding the proceeds of sale from the gifts he got from the Toshakhana.

Jailed and slapped with multiple sentences kept Khan out of the electoral race, as his aides and allies faced persecution, and his party, PTI, was banned. This forced Imran Khan loyalists to run as independents.

Although falling short of a majority, Independent candidates backed by Khan still secured the most number of seats in the current elections.