Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan won a majority of seats in by-elections on Sunday, building momentum in his campaign to pressure the six-month-old government into calling an early national vote.
Khan personally contested seven of eight seats and won six, Pakistani Election Commission data showed.
The Pakistan Peoples Party, a member of the ruling coalition, took the other two seats.
Photo: EPA-EFE
While the former leader must resign from all but one of the seats he won — meaning that elections must be scheduled again — the sweeping victory shows popular support for his political narrative in the nation of more than 220 million.
A former cricket star who was ousted from power through a no-confidence vote in April, Khan has been holding massive rallies across Pakistan to push for early elections.
“I ask the government and the establishment to respect the will of the masses and immediately announce fresh elections in the country,” Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader of Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, wrote on Twitter. “We are ready to discuss the election framework with the government.”
The political drama comes as the government of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif grapples with economic distress.
Moody’s downgraded the nation’s credit rating, and Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have dipped to their lowest levels in three years. Devastating floods earlier this year have also added to the crisis.
However, it is unlikely that Khan’s win can push Sharif’s administration to reconsider an early general election, which it has categorically rejected.
The markets did not react much to the results, and the rupee changed little upon opening.
“While Khan has been able to galvanize popular support, I am not sure if that will be sufficient for the government to give in to his call for early elections,” said Eng Tat Low, an emerging-market sovereign analyst at Columbia Threadneedle Investments in Singapore. “Unless we see a widespread social unrest which triggers an early election being called, markets will look past political noise.”
Sunday’s vote came after all 131 lawmakers from Khan’s party resigned from parliament’s lower house in April following the change in government.
Elections for those seats are being held in phases. While a sweeping win would embolden Khan and his supporters, his spate of legal woes could put a brake on his political ambitions.
The Election Commission has said that Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, received illegal foreign funds from the US, Australia and the United Arab Emirates. The party has denied the charge and is appealing the order.
Any decision on what punishment the party faces if it loses its appeal rests with the Supreme Court. It could face a ban on contesting elections.
Pakistan’s top investigative agency has also filed a complaint against Khan for receiving funds illegally from Arif Naqvi, founder of the defunct Dubai-based Abraaj Group, local media said.
Khan has had to get pre-emptive bail in two of the cases.
A criminal conviction could see Khan being barred from running for office for five years, according to Pakistani law.
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