ROCK AND ROLL IN PAKISTAN

 2024 will see about 60 to 70 general elections around the world. The majority of the world's countries are democracies. The exceptions being the Arab countries. Indonesia and Pakistan just had their elections.

In Indonesia Prabowo Subianto has claimed victory as Indonesia's next president. (Votes still being tallied up). Pakistan has had more exciting elections.

The clear cut lead in the Pakistan elections is former Pakistani cricket captain and ex-prime minister Imran Khan. His candidates have won 101 out of 295 Parliamentary seats.  The problem is he was thrown in jail (10 year sentence) just days before the elections on February 8th, 2024. His party the Tehreeke Insaf Pakistan was banned from the elections and their famous election symbol - a cricket bat - was banned.

So what happened was Imran Khan's PTI candidates ran as independents and swept 101 of the 295 Parliamentary seats - the largest bloc in Parliament.  There are allegations of massive "interventions" in the elections by the "Deep State". In Pakistan that means the Army.

On polling day, cell phone signals vanished, and internet access was choked. After the votes were cast, there were widespread allegations that many were stolen overnight, reversing unassailable leads. 

And yet, despite every effort to thwart them, Imran Khan’s supporters recorded the highest number of votes and clinched the largest number of seats - 101 seats. Imran Khan has said from prison that without all the harrassment (and if he was not jailed) his party could have won a thumping solid majority to form the government. This is not an idle boast.

But the No. 2 and No. 3 winners (the Nawaz Sharif clan plus the Bhutto clan) have teamed up to form a majority government in Pakistan. But it is not over yet.

If you have half an hour here is the Indian analyst the retired Major General GD Bakshi with his take on the Pakistan elections.

 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.