Pakistan on edge after “highly unusual” delay in election results

Pakistanis are still waiting for the results of the February 8 general election even though the polling booths closed 22 hours ago amid allegations of rigging.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which is responsible for holding the poll, has so far announced the provisional results for less than half of the seats in the national legislature. These representatives will then elect one of the assembly members as prime minister for the next five-year term.

The results for national and provincial elections, in which more than 127 million Pakistanis registered to vote, were supposed to be released by the ECP officials within nine hours after the polling time ended at 5:00pm local time (1200 GMT).

Speaking to TRT World, lawyer Asad Rahim said the inordinate delay in the results announcement is “highly unusual”.

“Even the blatantly manipulated elections of 1977 and 1990 didn’t see such delays. It’s certainly eroding people’s faith in the outcome of the polls,” he said.

Commenting on a wave of support for former prime minister Imran Khan, who was knocked out of the electoral process on legal grounds amid a nationwide crackdown on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Rahim said the polls show the “greatest electoral upset” since 1970.

“This election has produced a clear outcome despite the mass disenfranchisement before the polls,” he said while referring to the arrests of PTI workers and leaders amid a court order that stopped the party from contesting the poll under a single electoral symbol.

Even though every major political party is making claims of electoral victory, the official tally shows independent candidates backed by Khan’s PTI are leading on 28 seats at the time of this writing.

The Pakistan People’s Party of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif are closely following with 18 and 19 seats, respectively.

With the exception of the PML-N, all major political parties have expressed strong reservations over the slow pace of results announcements.

Barrister Gohar Khan – who heads the PTI of former premier Imran Khan after the latter’s disqualification from the electoral process on legal grounds – said the delay in the results announcement by the ECP was inordinate as independent candidates backed by his party led on 150 seats.

However, PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz Sharif claimed in a social media post that her party had emerged as the single largest winner in the national and Punjab province’s assemblies.

Bhutto-Zardari of the PPP said the ECP was announcing the poll results at an “incredibly slow” pace. He said the initial results are “very encouraging” as the candidates' PPP backing “seems to be doing well”.

Speaking to TRT World, veteran journalist Badar Alam said the Election Management System, a technological tool used by the ECP to streamline the results-gathering process on election day, has failed and created doubts about the integrity of the results.

The ECP bungled the results of the 2018 general election as well when the poll regulator’s Results Transmission System (RTS) collapsed on election day, he said.

“The ECP has a crucial role to play in ensuring the quality of democracy in Pakistan. It should be made independent financially and administratively. Otherwise, every losing candidate will make allegations of rigging.”