Cricketer Imran Khan on course to become Pakistans next PM
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imran is honest. he is a cool leader first-time voter ammar haider 20 told afp at a street celebration in islamabad1 pakistans former cricket hero imran khan is on his way to becoming the countrys next prime minister as results of wednesdays election trickled in thursday1 shahbaz sharif the leader of the muslim league-nawaz pml-n dismissed results as counting was still underway1 today what they have done has pushed pakistan back 30 years we reject this result sharif the brother of pakistans jailed ex-leader nawaz sharif told a press conference in lahore1 people will not bear it he added1 the election has been marred by widespread allegations of pre-poll meddling by the powerful military in favour of khan which saw the process dubbed pakistans dirtiest election1 as election workers sorted through massive piles of paper ballots other major parties including the pakistan peoples party ppp also alleged the count was being manipulated1 my candidates complaining polling agents have been thrown out of polling stations across the country tweeted ppp leader bilawal bhutto zardari adding inexcusable1 in a whatsapp message the pml-n also claimed that security forces had taken over polling stations1 the election commissions secretary babar yaqoob flatly denied allegations of vote count manipulation1 shortly before sharif spoke around midnight state television said that just one fifth of the votes had been counted so far an unusually slow count that further fuelled suspicions of rigging1 but yaqoob said the vote-counting system which he said was untested had crashed adding there is definitely no conspiracy no one wants to influence the results1 sharif vowed later via twitter to use all political and legal options for redressal of these glaring excesses adding that the party would meet on thursday to decide a way forward1 this is complete chaos analyst azeema cheema told afp1 too many parties are making the claim of rigging they are all saying the same things the established rules and procedures have not been followed the army has kicked their polling agents out of the polling booths and that they have been intimidated1 pti supporters were already celebrating in cities across the country including lahore islamabad multan karachi and rawalpindi with fireworks dancing and reports of celebratory gunfire1 however incumbent party has rejected the early election results and suggested blatant rigging1 wednesdays vote was meant to be a rare democratic transition of power in the populous but poor nuclear-armed muslim country which has been ruled by the armed forces for roughly half its history1 the contest largely became a two-way race between khans pakistan tehreek-e-insaf pti and the pml-n of ousted premier nawaz sharif whose brother shahbaz is leading its campaign1 bhutto son of slain prime minister benazir bhutto and his ppp could be called upon to form a coalition with any winner1 to form a majority government outright the contests winner would need to snatch 137 seats1 gallup pakistan estimated turnout at between 50 to 55 percent in an electorate of nearly 106 million similar to the previous contest in 20131 the most populous province of punjab which has 141 out of the 272 directly elected seats in the national assembly is a key battleground analysts have said1 some voters in lahore capital of punjab and traditionally a pml-n stronghold said they were abandoning the party in favour of pti1 i have voted for pml-n my whole life but this time i voted for pti because imran khan has promised free education and health said 75-year-old uzma akram1 up to 800000 police and troops were stationed at more than 85000 polling stations across the country after a string of attacks targeting political events in the final weeks of the campaign killed more than 180 people1 new pakistan1 khan 65 campaigned on populist promises to build a new pakistan and vowed to eradicate corruption clean up the environment and construct an islamic welfare state1 but his bid for power was dogged by widespread accusations he is benefiting from a silent coup by the generals1 the military has rejected the accusations1 election authorities granted military officers broad powers inside polling centres which further stirred fears of manipulation1 khan has also increasingly catered to hardline religious groups particularly over the inflammatory issue of blasphemy sparking fears a win for pti could embolden islamist extremists1 the pml-n says it is the target of the alleged military machinations. nawaz sharif was ousted from power last year and jailed over a corruption conviction days before the vote removing khans most dangerous rival1