Pakistan’s Khan wins election
China-Pakistan ties always stable: Chinese FM
Cricket hero Imran Khan has swept to an emphatic victory in Pakistan election, but without a majority he will need to enter a coalition to take power in the country.
A jubilant Khan had already declared victory in the pivotal vote, which has drawn allegations from rival parties of massive vote-rigging in his favor.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said Friday that with only 11 seats left to count, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) enjoys a strong lead with 114 seats, and will be the biggest party in parliament.
At a press conference the commission said that the outgoing Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had 63 seats and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which could prove kingmaker in a coalition government, had won 43. The count indicates PTI will not achieve the 137 seats needed in the National Assembly to form a majority government in its own right.
On Thursday, the PTI’s official Twitter account expressed its desire to keep a close tie with China, saying Pakistan will learn from China of poverty alleviation.
“We will strengthen and improve our relations with China. We want to work toward success of CPEC. We also want to send teams to learn poverty alleviation from China. How to lift our most poor who can’t even eat two meals a day,” it tweeted.
On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry praised PTI’s comments.
“China has noticed the positive remarks by Imran Khan and believes people from all walks of life in Pakistan are firm supporters of the China-Pakistan friendly relationship,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said during a daily press briefing.
“The China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation will not be shaken despite how the situation changes.”
Analysts had long predicted that if Khan took power it would have to be via coalition, with doubts over the level of support for him nationally.
But the size of his lead still took many by surprise, and had helped fuel suspicion over vote rigging late Wednesday and Thursday.
Analyst Ayesha Siddiqa said observers may have underestimated the depth of feeling among Pakistan’s growing middle class. “The military, the judiciary, the professional middle class supported him. This is a middle-class revolution.”
“Remember they grew up on this narrative of a corrupt Pakistan being damaged and needing a new leadership... In all this hue and cry, we didn’t notice there is another Pakistan there that wanted this change.”