Cricket star Imran Khan wins in Pakistan but needs a coalition

It is official: Pakistan's Election Commission said Friday that the party of former cricketer Imran Khan had won the third consecutive election of the civilian government in Pakistan, but did not not got the absolute majority and formed a coalition government. After two days of tedious counting of votes, Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf party won 109 of the 269 disputed seats in the National Assembly with its closest rival, the Shahbaz Sharif Islamic League of Pakistan, winning 63 seats. Sharif, who heads the party of former imprisoned premier Nawaz Sharif, has previously dismissed the results accusing widespread fraud and manipulation.

In Pakistan, where a British parliamentary system was set up, voters elected MPs on Wednesday. Fawad Chaudhry, spokesman for Khan 's party, said efforts were already underway to form a coalition, looking for independents and allies, but that the process would probably take several days. Yet on Thursday, the 65-year-old Khan made his first speech to the nation by declaring his victorious party based on screenings.

Opponents Call for Generalized Fraud

"Today in front of you, in front of the people of Pakistan I pledge to handle Pakistan like never before," said Khan, swearing in a statement. eliminate corruption, strengthen the institutions that he describes as dysfunctional and regain national pride by developing international relations based on respect and equality. [19659002] But there is still a long way to go before the national and provincial governments of Pakistan are in place and Khan can put his agenda

CBC Thomas Daigle [19459009

rights groups mbadive accusation of fraud and mbadive manipulation gave the Khan party its victory. They allege the involvement of the powerful Pakistani army and its intelligence agency known as the ISI acronym. Khan rejected these allegations, saying the poll was the most transparent of the country's 71-year history, which was dominated by military interference, directly or indirectly.

The third place in the contest of the National Assembly went to the left of the center People's Party of Pakistan with 39 seats. The results of 20 seats were still counted Friday but they will not change the result. The Pakistan National Assembly has 342 seats, but only 272 are directly elected by voters. In the Wednesday election, three seats were not contested because one candidate died, another was disqualified and a third was declared. The rest of the parliament goes to seats reserved for women and minorities.

Winning parties vary by province

A mix of small parties and independent candidates that Khan will have to court to form a coalition won the rest of the seats in Pakistan. National Assembly. The Electoral Commission indicated that the counting of votes was still ongoing in 20 remote areas of the country, offering the long-time politician the opportunity to have more seats but not an absolute majority.

Add chaos to Sharif, who rejected the election results, won the majority of seats in Pakistan's most powerful Punjab province. His party won 127 of the provincial parliament's 297 seats, while Khan's PTI won 117 seats, not giving an absolute majority and forcing both to try to form a coalition government. The Punjab Parliament is important because Punjab is Pakistan's largest province, with 60% of the country's 200 million inhabitants. If Khan wants to implement his broad reform agenda, his party must control the Punjab parliament.

Khan, President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, has proposed nothing to improve Pakistan's already tense relations with the United States (Athit Perawongmetha / Reuters)

The Khan's Party Wins an overwhelming majority in the conservative province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, while the Pakistan People's Party, led by Bilawal Bhutto, son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, wins the most seats in southern Sindh. provincial legislature. The largest Pakistani city of Karachi and the financial center of the country is the provincial capital of Sindh.

The province of Baluchistan, agitated by militant violence, was conquered by a small number of small parties to form a coalition to rule

. Khan treats Pakistan as a mercenary, says Khan

There will likely be days of negotiations before the composition of the Pakistan National Assembly and four provincial parliaments are clear and the maneuvers will be closely monitored by Pakistan's neighbors as well as regional powers like China, Russia and the United States

Khan in his speech Thursday revealed a clear vision for future international relations of Pakistan

A woman votes next to a soldier at a polling station during the general elections in Karachi on Wednesday. (Akhtar Soomro / Reuters)

While he seemed relaxed and conciliatory, his words were full of pbadion. He said that the United States treated Pakistan as a mercenary, giving it billions of dollars to fight the war on terror in an area besieged by militant extremists

"Unfortunately, until now, our relations were unilateral, Pakistan has suffered a great deal, "said Khan, who criticized the US-led conflict in neighboring Afghanistan.

There was nothing to suggest an improvement in the already tense relationship between Pakistan and Washington. The tweets of President Donald Trump in January blaming Islamabad for taking American help and only rendering lies and deception.