Khan leads to Pakistan's election prospects and the opponent cites fraud

The Pakistani cricket hero and now involved in politics Imran Khan led in the partial projections of Wednesday's general election results and his imprisoned opponent's party, the deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, dismissed the final result as "obviously" manipulated.

Khan's party is becoming more confident, but it still seems likely that he is not reaching a clear majority in the National Assembly. The full results are expected to be released Thursday.

As forecasts continue, the projections of four local television stations put Khan's party in the lead, believing that the party would win between 107 and 120 seats out of the 272 seats available in the elections, while the ruling party of Sharif would have between 42 and 69 seats However, these projections were based only on about 20% of the votes cast.

Khan's party spokesman, Fawad Chaudhry, expressed confidence when the first screenings were broadcast, saying in a tweet: "Congratulations to the nation on a new Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan."

Sharif's brother, Shehbaz, who now heads the Muslim League of Pakistan (PML-N), dismissed the charge after soldiers sent observers to polling stations to remove monitors. political parties during tabulations.

"It's pure fraud, the way the people's mandate has been openly insulted is intolerable," Sehbaz said at a press conference.

"We totally reject this result," he said. "It's a major shock to the democratic process in Pakistan."

Wednesday's election will only be the second civilian transfer of power in the 71-year history of Pakistan.

But campaigns have been going on for months on charges that the powerful army tried to tip the race in Khan's name after fights with the ruling Sharif party that was arrested for corruption this month.

About 371,000 soldiers were badigned to polling stations across the country, nearly five times the number sent in the last elections in 2013.

"SERIEUS THREAT"

Wednesday's vote was marked by a suicide bombing that killed 31 people near a polling station in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan Province. The Islamic State claimed responsibility

During the investigation, Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir-Khan of PML-N tweeted that official results forms had not been distributed in hundreds of polling stations, criticizing what he called "flagrant, disrespectful and shameless fraud".

The third largest party, the Pakistan People's Party, also complained that polling station officials were asked to leave when votes were counted at various centers.

"This is an alarm bell of a serious threat," said Senator Sherry Rehman of the PPP. "All these elections can be null and void, and we do not want it."

Several smaller parties made similar complaints in public statements.