Pakistani election rivals dispute Imran Khan’s claims of victory
IMRAN KHAN declared victory in Pakistan’s rancorous general election yesterday as rivals alleged he had benefited from widespread vote rigging.
The cricketer-turned-politician appeared on course to become prime minister after unofficial forecasts gave him a commanding lead.
The 65-year-old, nicknamed “Captain” by supporters, looked just short of a full majority, but was expected to find small coalition partners easily and declared he had been given a popular mandate.
In a speech broadcast from his Bani Gala estate outside Islamabad, he restated his populist promises, vowing a new Pakistan where he would crackdown on corruption and build an Islamic welfare state.
However, there were fears last night of political paralysis – or even violence – after his unexpectedly strong performance at the polls was rejected by rival parties.
The Pakistan Muslim League party of jailed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the result was based on “massive rigging” that “will cause irreparable damage to the country”.
Khan said he was prepared to cooperate in any investigation into vote fraud, but said the poll had been “the cleanest elections in Pakistan’s history”.
He said he wanted Pakistan and India to resolve their simmering dispute over Kashmir. Although the Indian media had made him feel like a Bollywood villain, “if India takes one step towards us, we will take two steps towards them”.
“Right now, it is one-sided, where India is constantly just blaming us,” he said. “The leadership of Pakistan and India now need to come to the table to resolve this and end blame games. We are stuck at square one.”
He said he wanted peace in Afghanistan and “mutually beneficial” relations with the US, which he has berated for its foreign policy in the region.
The former national cricket captain, who began his political struggle 22 years ago, said: “God has given me the chance to make my dream come true.”
Supporters of his Pakistan Tehreeke-insaf (Pakistan Justice Movement) party had been celebrating all day and gathered outside his hilltop estate.
“I haven’t slept all night, I am so excited,” said 27-year-old Khurram Shahzad. “He is an honest man and a great man. He will be the greatest leader we have had in our history.”
Khan’s election marks the end of a long transformation from nightclubbing sportsman to a conservative, nationalist leader of the world’s sixth most populous nation.
His declaration in the mid-1990s that he would trade his sporting popularity for Pakistan’s brutal politics was scorned, and he spent years at the political margins.
Jemima Goldsmith, his former wife, yesterday added her congratulations.
She said his victory followed 22 years of “humiliations, hurdles and sacrifices”.
“It’s an incredible lesson in tenacity, belief and refusal to accept defeat,” she said. “The challenge now is to remember why he entered politics in the first place.”
European Union poll monitors are due to give their verdict today on whether polling was free and fair. The military establishment, which has ruled Pakistan directly or indirectly for much of its history, has been accused of sabotaging rivals to favour Khan.
Shahbaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League since his brother Nawaz was ousted and jailed, said voting had been subjected to “outright rigging, and the results based on massive rigging will cause irreparable damage to the country”.
His party would use “all political and legal options for redressal of these glaring excesses”, he vowed.
‘It’s an incredible lesson in tenacity, belief and refusal to accept defeat’