• Pledges to fight corruption, balance ties with US
Pakistan cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan claimed victory yesterday in the country’s tense general election marred by allegations of “blatant” rigging by rival parties.
A visibly tired Khan cut a conciliatory tone in a wide-ranging address to the nation following the controversial contest which was also hit by long delays in still unreleased official results. Unofficial projections by various local media outlets showed Khan’s Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party enjoying a clear lead. “We were successful and we were given a mandate
” Khan, 65, said during a live broadcast from his home in the capital Islamabad, adding that there would be “no politician victimisation” of his opponents in the future.
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He went on to call the elections the “most transparent” in the country’s history. During the broadcast, Khan vowed to tackle corruption that was “eating our country like a cancer” and touched on promises to balance relations with the United States that would be “beneficial” for both countries.
Khan also said he was open to a sit-down with arch-rival India to discuss ongoing disputes in the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir which is claimed in full by both nations.
The former all-rounder’s statement came several hours after his supporters took to the streets to celebrate winning an election that opponents have said the powerful military fixed in his favour.
However at the time of his speech there was no official confirmation of results from the election commission, almost 24 hours after polls closed in Wednesday’s vote.
The Election Commission of Pakistan dismissed allegations of manipulation, blaming the delay on glitches in new, untested counting software.
“The election was conducted in a fair and free manner,” said the Commission’s Secretary, Babar Yaqoob, adding that the results would be announced Friday.
He said 82 percent of the results were in. Observers including a mission from the European Union are due to give their own observations today on the voting process.
The military, which had been accused of seeking to manipulate the vote in Khan’s favour in the months leading up to the polls, has not yet commented on the situation.
The armed forces and Khan have previously denied allegations of intervention.
Late Wednesday, the once-mighty Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which had been in power since 2013, rejected the results because of “outright rigging”, and vowed it would use “all political and legal options for redressal of these glaring excesses”.