Imran Khan Declares 'Victory' in Pakistan Elections

As the delay in announcing the results of Pakistan's general elections faces criticism, counting of about half of the votes indicates the lead of the 'Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf' party, led by former national cricket team player Imran Khan. The final results of this election have not yet been announced, but on Thursday, Imran Khan declared 'victory' and stated his intention to transform Pakistan into a 'welfare state' through reforms. According to the latest counts, the 'Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz' party, led by Nawaz Sharif, who has been imprisoned for financial corruption for the past two weeks, is in a very close second place; however, Mr. Sharif's supporters have reported 'irregularities' in the vote counting and labeled this process as an 'attack on democracy.' The general elections in Pakistan were held on Wednesday, August 3, and the results were expected to be announced by 2 AM on Thursday. Babar Yaqub, the Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan, stated in a conversation with reporters early Thursday that the delay was due to 'technical problems' in the reporting system of the ballot boxes and the commencement of manual counting. Sardar Muhammad Reza, the head of the Election Commission, emphasized that 'the elections were conducted in a completely transparent and fair manner' but could not predict the exact time for the final results. The Pakistani parliament, known as the 'National Assembly,' has 342 seats, of which 272 are directly elected, and 70 are reserved for women and religious minorities. The current results, based on the counting of 48% of the votes, show that 113 seats have gone to Imran Khan's party, 64 to Nawaz Sharif's party, and 42 to the Pakistan Peoples Party led by Benazir Bhutto's son, the assassinated former Prime Minister of Pakistan. Thus, at this stage of the vote counting, none of the parties can form a government alone without a coalition. Imran Khan's party has not officially declared victory yet, but Fawad Chaudhry, the party's spokesperson, tweeted: 'Congratulations to the nation for a new Pakistan! Prime Minister Imran Khan.' Various cities in Pakistan have witnessed several bombings in recent weeks, and on Wednesday, coinciding with the voting, a suicide bombing in Quetta left over 30 dead. The ISIS group claimed responsibility for this explosion. According to some reports, the number of victims of violence in Pakistan over the past two months has reached 180, including three candidates. In related news, dozens of Pakistani voters were killed in the suicide attack, Nawaz Sharif and his daughter were arrested on a bloody day in Pakistan, and the Pakistani government called for military intervention to deal with protesters. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi became the new Prime Minister of Pakistan.