The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced first results of the 2024 polls in the early hours of Friday, more than 10 hours after voting ended amid allegations of rigging, sporadic violence and a countrywide mobile phone shutdown.
The initial results were announced by ECP Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal during a press conference in Islamabad at approximately 3 a.m. on Feb. 9.
Samiullah Khan, an independent supported by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s PTI, won the PK-76 seat in the Kyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial Assembly by securing over 18,000 votes, he said.
According to him, Fazal Hakeem Khan, an independent candidate who received support from the PTI, won PK-6 with 25,330 votes.
PTI-backed independent candidate Ali Shah has won Swat’s PK-4 constituency as per initial results from the Election Commission of Pakistan. He secured 30,022 votes.
The polls closed on Feb. 8 at 5 p.m. and ballot counting began but there was no clear picture till about 3 a.m. on Feb. 9 from the ECP about which party was leading.
As political parties complained about the delay and questioned the poll authority, the ECP directed all the provincial Election Commissioners and Returning Officers to announce the results within half-an-hour or else face strict action.
In a press release issued well past midnight, the electoral watchdog also said that the statements being run by media channels regarding the ECP were not true.
During the press conference, Mr. Zafar Iqbal stated that the delay was due to the Returning Officers still compiling the results when asked about it. He also rejected the PTI’s claim that the ECP was manipulating the results to control the party’s victory.
“This is not the case. By Friday morning, results will come to fore,” Mr. Iqbal said.
Earlier, the Returning Officers had allegedly stopped issuing results to the media following an apparent victory of the PTI in the most seats in Punjab and Kyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Provinces.
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Khan in a statement claimed his party has won over 150 national Assembly seats and also is in a position to form governments in Punjab and KPK. He requested that the ECP make an immediate announcement of all the results. The caretaker government of Pakistan was yet to restore cellphone and mobile internet services in the country which were shut down just before 8 a.m. on Feb. 8 citing security issues on the polling day.
PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, currently the military establishment’s favourite, left his party office for home late on Feb. 8 night after receiving a report of “shock defeat”, a PML-N insider told the Press Trust of India (PTI).
“Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shehbaz Sharif, daughter Maryam Nawaz who had gathered at the Model Town party office left late Thursday night for home after knowing the PML-N’s humiliating defeat in the polls,” he said.
In Lahore’s NA-130 and Mansahra’s NA-15 constituencies, Nawaz Sharif lacked momentum.
Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister who founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is currently in jail and unable to contest. Due to the prohibition of using the party symbol, a cricket bat, PTI candidates are running as independents.
Imran Khan’s close aide and senior PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari posted on X, ‘Counting is being stopped and results are being changed at many places!’ Mainly Punjab. This is the second half of counting, and the point at which manipulation takes place while #PTI is clearly leading. Is the world watching?” PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on X, “Results are incredibly slow coming in. However, initial results are very encouraging! It appears that the PPP candidates and independents who we have supported or engaged with are doing well! Let’s see what the final tally is in the end…” A countrywide public holiday was declared to enable more than 12 crore voters to cast their ballots. The polling percentage is still unknown. In the 2018 elections, the overall voter turnout across the nation was 51.7%.
In total 266 National Assembly seats were up for grabs out of 336, but polling was postponed on at least one seat after a candidate was killed in a gun attack in Bajaur. The winning parties are allocated 60 seats for women and 10 seats for minorities based on proportional representation.
To form the government, a party must win 133 out of 265 seats that are being contested.
