Cricket legend leads in close election as Pakistani ruling party claims fraud
LAHORE, Pakistan — Imran Khan, the cricket legend and charismatic Pakistani politician challenging Pakistan’s mightiest political dynasty, was leading early Thursday in national parliamentary elections that were marred by claims of fraud and a suicide bombing near a polling station that killed at least 31.
There were no official results by 1 a.m. local time, but numerous TV news channels showed Mr. Khan and other candidates in his Pakistan Justice Movement leading in 100 to 120 districts, while candidates from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N party were reported leading in 42 to 50 districts, and other parties trailed behind. Mr. Khan would need to win 141 of 272 seats to form his own government.
In a late-night news conference here, Shahbaz Sharif, the Muslim League’s senior candidate, angrily rejected the reported results and denounced “massive irregularities” at the polls. But Asad Umar, a spokesman for Mr. Khan, told journalists in Islamabad, the capital, that “we are likely to have a clear majority . . . Pakistanis will be proud of this government.”
Youthful supporters of Mr. Khan, who campaigned relentlessly against political corruption and elitism, sang and danced in cities and towns across the country all evening, celebrating what some called a new day in Pakistani political leadership, free of corruption and dedicated to the public good.
Millions of voters turned out Wednesday despite intense heat and a campaign marked by rancor, terrorist attacks, accusations of military meddling and the dramatic return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to serve a prison term for financial misdeeds.
The polls were guarded by police, troops and paramilitary rangers, after several attacks during the campaign killed more than 200 people. They included a suicide bombing at a rally in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and a massive blast in southwestern Baluchistan province that killed 145 people, including a candidate for Parliament.
Despite the intensified security, another suicide bomber struck Wednesday morning near a polling station in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, killing 31 people, officials said. The bomber tried to enter the polls on foot but set off his explosives when security personnel stopped him, officials said.
The election marked the second democratic transition of power since 17 years of military rule ended in 2008. More than 105 million people were eligible to vote at 85,000 voting stations nationwide, but the decisive battle was in Lahore, the capital of wealthy Punjab province, where the Sharif family has dominated politics for several decades.
Both Mr. Khan and Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, are running for Parliament from Lahore, and one or the other is likely to become prime minister. Both men are in their mid-60s, but their rivalry embodies two competing versions of reality — Mr. Khan’s call to free Pakistan of corrupt political dynasties, and the Sharifs’ campaign to end shadowy military, judicial and bureaucratic influence in politics.
Regardless of whether Mr. Khan defeats the troubled Muslim League, some analysts predicted that neither party would win enough votes to form a government, leading to a period of weak coalition rule, or possibly a hung Parliament, with the military exercising more power behind the scenes.
Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from public office by the Supreme Court last year, after hearings on financial malfeasance charges that were pushed by Khan and others. Mr. Sharif claimed he was the victim of hidden pressure from the military and its allies. During the campaign, reports emerged that such pressure had prompted dozens of Muslim League candidates or rising figures to leave the party.
“Despite being imprisoned, I am witnessing your passion and listening to your chants to respect the vote,” Mr. Sharif said Wednesday in a message to supporters from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. In the message, relayed via Twitter, Mr. Sharif urged voters to give “one final push to break the wall” of hidden official opposition to democracy.