05:54 – Pakistan wakes up in electoral chaos



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Pakistan woke up in the electoral chaos on Thursday, the outgoing government party denouncing "blatant fraud" and rejecting even before they were released the partial results of the legislative elections, which suggest a victory for the former – Imran Khan Cricket Academy.

Ballot counting was a huge delay. According to local media, less than half of the votes had been counted about 13 hours after the end of the polls.

The Pakistan Election Commission (PEC) justified this slowness by "technical problems" related to the use of new electoral software.

"These elections are not tainted (…) They are 100% fair and transparent," said its director, Sardar Muhammad Raza, at a press conference, the third for the ECP in during this surreal electoral night.

But the delays fueled suspicions of rigging. On Wednesday evening, the PML-N, which has been in power for the last five years, has launched a campaign in the pool announcing "to reject the results in full (…) because of obvious and mbadive irregularities."

" results were counted in the absence of our election officials, "he added.

His leader Shahbaz Sharif, brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, currently imprisoned for corruption, first denounced at a press conference "So blatant frauds that everyone started to cry."

He then warned on Twitter that "results based on mbadive rigging will cause irreparable damage to the country."

The PPP leader (People's Party of Pakistan, in power from 2008 to 2013) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari echoed the term "inexcusable and scandalous" the outcome of the election.

"My candidates complain that our agents elections were expelled from polling stations all over the country, "tweeted the son of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, murdered in 2007.

The screenings of all television gave Thursday Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of the former glory of cricket Imran Khan, winner of the vote, with at least 100 seats of deputies. A majority of 137 seats is needed for the formation of a government.

Neither Imran Khan nor the army, who is suspected of having supported him through all sorts of secretive maneuvers in recent months, have for the moment comments on the situation.

The controversy follows a campaign already considered by some observers as one of the "dirtiest" in the country's history because of the many alleged manipulations, and marked by increased visibility of extremist religious parties.

– 'Turmente' –

"This is complete chaos," said political badyst Azeema Cheema, who said he was "very concerned" by the turn that events could now take

"It will depend on how civil disobedience is organized There could be spontaneous riots among political activists Or political parties could organize sit-ins and demonstrations tions, "she told AFP.

" No matter how it will be managed, the immediate post-election climate will be quite tense, "said Michael Kugelman, an badyst at the Wilson Center in Washington. , which sees "no way to avoid a period of turmoil."

Wednesday's elections, placed under very high security, constituted a rare democratic transition from one civilian government to another in this young country with a punctuated past military coups. Pakistan, a nuclear power, has been ruled by its army for nearly half of its 71-year history.

PTI supporters, often young, celebrated much of the night the expected victory of their champion .

Imran Khan, often portrayed as a playboy in the West, is far more devout in Pakistan, where he made the fight against corruption his electoral campaign horse.

Some 800,000 military and police officers had been deployed to ensure Security.

Several attacks against the ballot have yet occurred. The largest, a suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, left at least 31 dead and 70 wounded near a polling station in Quetta, in southwestern Baluchistan province.

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