Independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf won 97 of 266 National Assembly seats in the South Asian country, Al Jazeera reported citing the final results announced by election authorities. No political party secured a majority in the election.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won 76 seats while the Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led Pakistan People’s Party secured 54 seats.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was forced to field its candidates as independents after the country’s Supreme Court blocked the party from using its electoral symbol. Khan, the party’s chief, is in jail after being convicted in multiple legal cases.
Pakistan’s National Assembly has 336 seats, out of which 266 are decided by direct voting and 70 are reserved. To form the government on its own, a party needs to win at least 134 seats.
Among the reserved seats, 60 are for women and 10 are for non-Muslims. These seats are allocated according to the strength of each party in the Assembly.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party chairperson Gohar Ali Khan said on Saturday that his party wants to form the government despite many obstacles in its path, reported Observer.
“The results are clear, we are the majority party and we’re going to be forming the government,” Ali Khan told Observer. “Common sense must prevail. The people have spoken and they have given us the mandate to form the government. That needs to be respected before they come out on the street, even if we ask them not to.”
Ali Khan said that the people’s mandate shows that they want Pakistan to be independent and democratic.
The party has alleged rigging of polling processes and involvement of the Pakistan Army to prevent Khan from returning as the prime minister. The party claims that it has won 154 seats, but several of the votes to won were taken away in alleged rigging and manipulation by the country’s election commission.
On Sunday, several supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf protested against the alleged rigging of polls in several parts of the country.
This comes as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party are in talks of forming an alliance to form the government.
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