Former cricket star hoping to captain Pakistan again
ISLAMABAD: Cricket starturnedpolitician Imran Khan is hoping to become Pakistan’s prime minister after 20 years of being dismissed at the polls, as the country prepares to vote in a tense election pitting him against the party of jailed expremier Nawaz Sharif.
Just over a decade after the end of Pakistan’s most recent era of military rule, today’s vote features competing narratives of democracy amid Sharif’s accusations elements of the powerful army are working to throw the race to Khan, which he denies.
Khan (65) has hailed Sharif’s conviction on corruption charges this month as proof democracy is maturing in the nucleararmed Muslimmajority nation of 208 million by finally holding its venal political elite accountable.
Supporters of Sharif, whose party is now led by his younger brother, Shehbaz, argue his downfall was politically motivated and engineered by the army establishment, representing a blow to the ‘‘sanctity of the vote’’ that gave his Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PMLN) a majority in the last elections.
The election comes as Pakistan’s economy is in crisis, the rupee’s 20% decline spiking inflation and dwindling foreign currency reserves likely to force the second International Monetary Fund bailout since 2013.
Recent nationwide polls indicate a tight race, with Khan’s party ahead on 30% in one survey, compared to 27% for PMLN. Sharif’s party tops another poll with 26% compared to 25% for Khan’s Pakistan TehreekiInsaf (PTI).
In third place was the Pakistan People’s Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (29) the son of twotime Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007. The PPP could emerge as a coalition kingmaker if no party wins a majority, as many expect.
Khan, however, is wary of governing with the established parties.
‘‘If we have to make a coalition with either of the two main parties, then it means we can’t bring about any major reforms,’’ said Khan, who as captain led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
‘‘So, I wonder if it is worth even forming a government if you have to make an alliance with one of those two parties.’’ —