As Pakistan finishes counting down, Imran Khan's rivals get up



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LAHORE, Pakistan – As Pakistan approaches the end of a long and contentious process of stripping Friday, political rivals Imran Khan, the leader of the winning party, began to reluctantly accept that he would become the next Pakistani prime minister.

million. The Khan party, the Pakistan Movement for Justice, swept through most of the country, performing strongly in urban areas and winning 116 parliamentary seats here, compared to 64 for the second-place party, known as of PML-N. Before 6 pm Friday, the National Electoral Commission had finished counting votes for 264 seats out of the 269 contested Wednesday. Khan, a former cricket star who has been looking for a higher position in the past 20 years, has been the favorite candidate of the powerful Pakistani army. Human rights groups and many badysts have said that in the months leading up to the elections, military and intelligence officials have threatened and blackmailed rival party politicians to appeal to Mr. Khan. paving the way for his victory. Mr. Khan denied this point.

Analysts also said that the army intended to bring out the last Pakistani PM, Nawaz Sharif, imprisoned by an anti-corruption court shortly before the elections, because he had disputed its position in foreign markets. and security policy. Many of the candidates who joined Mr. Khan's ticket came from Mr. Sharif's PML-N party.

Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, one of the leaders of the PML-N and Mr. Sharif's nephew, said that his party had many complaints about how the elections had unfolded and On Wednesday night, some of his party's observers were illegally prevented from counting the ballots.

But his party does not intend to boycott the results To be part of the political opposition to the party of Mr. Khan in the National Assembly, he said Friday

"We do not want to disrupt the democratic process in Pakistan, "said Hamza. "The country faces many challenges, so all parties should work in harmony to make sure the country does not suffer."

In Pakistan, badysts say, this is like a speech from concession.

A representative of the People's Party of Pakistan, which is led by the Bhutto political dynasty and came in third with 43 seats, said on Friday that he had not yet decided to accept or accept not the official results

. Khan's rivals made accusations of vote rigging and expressed suspicion about the slowness of counting the ballots, which took more than two days. Election officials apologized and said the delay was caused by a merger in their computer systems that prevented the transmission of results on election night.

Most Pakistanis took the step and accepted Mr. Khan as the winner. few people in cafes and shops pay much attention to the new policies broadcast on TVs all around them. Despite the vague threats of the losing parties, no major protest broke out

. Khan remains popular, especially among young people in Pakistani cities, who seem energized by his victory. He is known as a strident anti-corruption fighter, and in a speech to the nation he made on Thursday, he focused on populist policies to help Pakistan's many poor.

Some critics accuse it of being too sympathetic to the Taliban and other extremist groups. Mr. Khan has portrayed himself as a devoted Muslim, and in his speech on Thursday, he said that he wanted Pakistani society to be more like the Islamic welfare state than the Prophet Muhammad had. established centuries ago

. "Overall, the electoral process in 2018 has not been as satisfying as in 2013," said Michael Gahler, the head of the delegation, referring to the latest general elections in Pakistan.

He added that the media had been restricted and that the elections had been "negatively affected by the country's political environment".

Salman Masood in Islamabad, and Daniyal Hbadan and Meher Ahmad in Lahore Contributed to the Report

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