Pakistan elections | Imran Khan’s PTI threatens agitation if complete results are not declared by midnight

Imran Khan's PTI party demands complete election results by midnight or threatens protests, claiming victory in 170 seats.

Declaring that it would form the Government both at the Centre and in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party on February 10 asked Pakistan’s Election Commission to announce complete results by midnight or face protests in areas where results were still awaited.

Springing a surprise, independents backed by jailed former prime minister Khan's PTI party won the lion's share of 101 seats in the National Assembly in Feb. 8 election. Two days after the polling was held, the results were not yet complete and the country appeared headed to a hung Parliament or a coalition government.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, PTI chief Gohar Ali Khan demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce complete results by midnight or face protests by his supporters in areas where results were still awaited and said, otherwise “PTI supporters will stage peaceful protests outside offices of returning officers (ROs).” He also accused the ECP of failing to play its constitutional role to announce results on time.

Claiming that his party had won 170 seats, including those seats on which the PTI was already declared as the winner, Mr. Gohar said his party would form the Government at the Centre as well as in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces. He also claimed that the party had the proof of Form 45 of polling stations that showed its supported candidates had won but the ROs declared them unsuccessful.

Mr. Gohar appealed to the “institutions as well as the judiciary” to accept the mandate of the people, who voted for PTI’s slogan that “slavery is unacceptable”. “The economy and county cannot afford the rejection of this mandate,” he said.

Mr. Gohar was handpicked as chairman of PTI after Imran Khan’s conviction. The soft-spoken barrister from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province has been trying to run the party affairs in the most difficult time when its founder has been convicted and all front-line leaders have left it. His leadership was also rejected by the ECP in a case related to intra-party polls and challenged by the party in the Supreme Court.