Disruptive Captain

Despite a decent performance in the polls, Imran Khan adopts a rigid stance, putting more pressure on the Pakistani political system

- MEHMAL SARFRAZ

THE RESULTS OF the parliamentary polls came as a surprise to many people as former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the most seats, despite the party losing its iconic election symbol ‘cricket bat’ and its candidates contesting as ‘independents’. While the PTI-backed independents won 92 of 265 seats to which direct elections were held, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won 79 and 54 seats, respectively. Imran has ruled out any alliance with the major parties and has directed his supporters to join hands with the Majlis-e-Wahdat-Muslimeen (MWM) to try and form governments at the centre and in Punjab. He has also indicated an alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The PTI said that its mandate was stolen after the PML-N and the PPP announced a plan to form a coalition government under former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif. PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto announced on February 13 that his party would support the PML-N candidate for prime minister, but would not join the cabinet. The PPP, however, is eyeing several constitutional positions like the president, the speaker of the National Assembly and the chairman of the senate (upper house).

Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, said the results showed that Imran and the PTI were more popular among the masses than their competitors. “This is despite the fact that Imran is in prison and has been convicted in a few cases,” he said. “Several top PTI leaders are either imprisoned or underground. Even if the PTI is unable to come to power at the national level, Imran holds the key to the current political crisis in the country.”