Khan rivals vow to protest as he is elected PM

IMRAN KHAN was yesterday officially crowned winner of Pakistan’s general election, as defeated rivals announced protests demanding new elections following claims of vote rigging.

The former cricketer had a commanding lead in the national assembly and had been expected to form a coalition easily over the coming days, although the protests could throw obstacles in his path. “We will run a movement for holding of elections again. There will be protests,” said Maulana Fazalur Rehman from the All Parties Conference, which included the outgoing ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N).

Shahbaz Sharif, the PML-N’S leader, announced his support for the “movement” but said he needed to consult his party to see if they would boycott taking oaths that would swear them into parliament as well. Mr Khan’s oppo- nents and rights groups have alleged the country’s powerful military and its intelligence agencies set out to weaken the PML-N to keep it from winning a new term in power.

Both Mr Khan and the military have denied the accusation. EU monitors said that “overall the election results are credible”, but that the run-up had been skewed by “a lack of equality and opportunity”.