Pakistan Counts Votes In Deadly Ballot; Ex-PM Khan Allies In Lead
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ISLAMABAD (Worthy News) – Votes were being counted in Pakistan after Thursday’s blood-stained general election, which was overshadowed by attacks and the suspension of mobile phone and internet services by authorities in the Islamic nation.
Results were slow to come out, prompting election officials to warn local officials to speed up the process.
The party of disqualified and jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan quickly called the delay a sign of “vote-rigging.”
Unofficial results on television channels suggest Khan’s allies are in the lead.
Jailed on corruption charges last year, Khan was barred from standing in Thursday’s election, and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), had to field its candidates as independents.
They were challenging the party of another former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, whose younger brother Shehbaz, president of his Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz party (PML-N), replaced Khan two years ago when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote.
Yet at least nine people, including two children, were killed in poll-related violence by militants, authorities said.
The attacks came despite the interior ministry saying it took security steps after at least 26 people were killed in two explosions near electoral candidates’ offices in the southwestern province of Balochistan on Wednesday.
The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for those attacks.
Despite the dangers, as many as 128 million people were registered to cast their votes, almost half of whom were under the age of 35.
More than 5,000 candidates – of whom just 313 are women – contested 266 directly elected seats in the 336-member National Assembly.
The ballot came at a time when millions of voters were hit hard by the country’s economic woes, which were exacerbated by devastating floods in 2022.
Inflation is soaring to as high as 30 percent, and people are struggling to pay their bills.
Minority Christians are among those suffering as many are forced to work in underpaid jobs or face charges of blasphemy against Islam, including converts of a Muslim background serving jail time.
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