Islamabad: Pakistani politicians aligned with incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan are set to form a coalition with a lesser-known political entity, announced his party on Monday, following elections marred by accusations of manipulation that yielded no clear victor.
Although candidates supported by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party secured the most seats in this month’s elections, they were effectively marginalized as they were compelled to run as independents.
While the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), backed by the military, failed to clinch a majority, it has brokered a pact with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and several smaller parties to establish the next government.
Nevertheless, PTI remains optimistic about securing a majority by integrating its candidates into the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), a registered political entity whose chairman was the sole victor from the alliance of Islamic political and religious factions.
PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan declared at a press conference, “We have reached an agreement that our provincial and national assembly candidates will unite with the Sunni Ittehad Council.”
The successful PTI-backed candidates will submit their applications this week to join the SIC to the Election Commission of Pakistan, which must endorse the coalition. If approved, the alliance may then be entitled to seats designated for women and religious minorities based on election outcomes.
“Following this coalition, PTI will be well-positioned to lead governments in both the provinces and the center,” stated Omar Ayub Khan, PTI’s prime ministerial candidate, during the press conference, referring to the National Assembly.
Allegations of ballot tampering and result manipulation have been widespread, particularly after Pakistan’s mobile phone network was shut down on election day and the counting process extended beyond 24 hours.
In a significant revelation, a senior bureaucrat admitted at a press briefing on Saturday to orchestrating fraud in the February 8 election and announced his intention to surrender to authorities.
“We manipulated the outcomes, reversing margins of 70,000 votes in 13 national assembly seats,” disclosed Liaqat Ali Chattha, commissioner of Rawalpindi, where the influential military is headquartered.
Following Chattha’s admission, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a prominent advocacy organization, commented that the “involvement of the state bureaucracy in election fraud in Pakistan is beginning to be exposed.”
Imran Khan’s PTI staged nationwide protests against the alleged rigging on Saturday, with a relatively small number of supporters demonstrating in major urban centers, the largest gathering being approximately 4,000 people in its stronghold, the northern city of Peshawar.
Police detained senior party member Salman Akram Raja and around a dozen supporters in Lahore, where they besieged the party headquarters. However, authorities confirmed their release by late afternoon.
