Imran Khan- File pic
Pakistan’s election commission on Saturday released final results of the general elections in which cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s PTI emerged as the single largest party, winning 116 of the 270 contested seats.
The general elections in Pakistan were marred by a tediously slow vote count and resulting in allegations of rigging.
The final results were announced more than two days after the conclusion of voting for the 11th general elections held on July 25.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led the National Assembly tally with 116 seats.
Jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 64 seats and former president Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 43 seats are placed at number two and three respectively, the ECP said.
The PTI is on the top with 16,857,035 votes, followed by the PML-N with 12,894,225 and the PPP with 6,894,296 votes.
The party, however, is short of the 137 needed for simple majority.
The independent candidates are the fourth largest group in terms of votes cast with a total of 6,011,297 votes received, the ECP said.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Aml Pakistan (MMAP) came fourth with 13 seats, it said.
Thirteen independent candidates have also won and would play important roles as the PTI needs their support to form the government at the Centre.
The Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQMP), which ruled the city for decades, managed to get just six seats.
The ECP has also released the total number of votes each political party got in the election.
Among the religious parties, the MMAP got 2,530,452 votes, Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan 2,191,679 and Allah-o-Akhbar Tehreek 171,441 votes, the ECP said.
The ECP also issued final voters’ turnout in election of both national and provincial assemblies, showing 51.7 per cent turnout for the National Assembly (NA), 55 per cent for Punjab provincial assembly, 47.6 per cent for Sindh, 45.5 per cent for Khyber-Pakhtuakhwa and 45.2 pr cent for Balochistan provincial assembly.
The provincial results have been also announced and the PML-N has become the single largest party with 129 seats in Punjab, the PPP with 76 in Sindh, the PTI with 66 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Balochistan Awami Party with 15 in Balochistan.
The Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a party of hardline Sunni Brailvi sect followers, clinched two seats in Sindh assembly. The TLP participated in elections for the first time after it tasted success and fame during siege of capital Islamabad last year.
The election results were marred by delays, causing anger among the leaders of losing parties who cried foul and levelled allegations of fraud.
The ECP had earlier attributed the delay in counting of ballot papers to a technical fault in the Result Transmission System (RTS) — a software used to relay results from presiding officers to the commission.
The political parties had demanded a re-election by at a multiparty conference yesterday, attended by the PML-N, MMA, PkMAP, ANP and others.
The election marks the second democratic transition of power in Pakistan’s 70-year history. The military has ruled Pakistan through various coups for nearly half of the country’s history since independence in 1947.
(With PTI inputs)
