(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s Imran Khan took an early lead in a tightly-fought election as his main political rivals complained of rigging in a contest already tarnished by violence and widespread allegations of army interference.
With counting continuing early Thursday, unofficial tallies from local television stations and exit polls showed Khan, the 65-year-old former cricket star and leader of the Movement for Justice party, or PTI, edging in front of jailed former premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Projections show Khan winning the most seats, but falling short of a majority needed to clinch power without a coalition.
Earlier election surveys show none of the top three parties winning a majority, paving the way for horse-trading to form a government. Pakistan’s powerful military -- which has ruled for much of the nation’s history -- has faced accusations during the campaign of intimidating critics and reporters to elect a pliant government. It has denied the allegations.
No matter who triumphs, Pakistan’s next leader will need to grapple with the generals over control of foreign policy and national security -- two areas that determine relations with the U.S. and China. They must also deal with a mounting economic crisis: four currency devaluations since December have made it likely the next government will need to seek another International Monetary Fund bailout.
‘Blatant Rigging’
While allegations of election rigging aren’t unusual in Pakistan -- Khan cried foul and led protests against Sharif’s party when won it won by a landslide in 2013 -- the chorus of complaints by a multitude of parties have the potential to cause political turmoil.
“Lots of (early) reports of major PTI gains, relatively low turnout, and allegations of blatant rigging,” Michael Kugelman, a senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, said in a tweet. “If these trends solidify, the next few days could be quite messy indeed in Pakistan.”
Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother Shehbaz told reporters in Lahore that the PML-N rejected the election results, which were a “flagrant violation” of the people’s mandate after its officials were kicked out of polling stations across the country.
“This is the most dirty election in Pakistan’s history,” Mushahid Hussain, a PML-N leader said at the party’s press conference in Lahore. “This is not an election, but a selection. Someone is being installed, someone is being removed.”
The Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zadari took to Twitter to express his concerns. "It’s now past midnight & I haven’t received official results from any constituency I am contesting myself," Bhutto Zadari said in a tweet. "My candidates complaining polling agents have been thrown out of polling stations across the country. Inexcusable & outrageous."
However the Election Commission rejected the allegations as baseless. The parties had not provided any evidence to back up their claims, Babar Yaqoob, election commission secretary, told reporters in Islamabad.
Khan, who has led a relentless anti-graft campaign, had the momentum heading into the election, and is seen as the military’s top choice for prime minister despite his denials. Sharif has clashed repeatedly with the military over the years and was jailed this month on corruption charges, which he is appealing.
Wednesday’s voting was marred by a bomb blast near a polling station in Quetta that killed 31 people and injured about 70, Waseem Baig, spokesman for Sandeman Provincial Hospital in Quetta said by phone. In a second attack in Balochistan, the military said a convoy on election duty was hit, killing three soldiers and one poll worker, while local media reported a grenade attack in Hyderabad and an explosion in Larkana.
(Updates with Shehbaz Sharif comments in 7th paragraph.)
