Pakistan‘s ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan has claimed victory, as independent candidates backed by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party led other parties in official results.
However, the official election body still has not announced the election results.
In an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated authroised Imran Khan's speech shared on his X account around midnight, Khan slammed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif for delivering his victory speech on Friday evening despite trailing the independents.
“Nawaz Sharif is a person of low intelligence. In spite of trailing by over 30 seats in the official results, he delivered a victory speech. No Pakistani voter is going to accept Nawaz Sharif’s words and even the international media has been writing about it,” stated Khan.
He highlighted that independent estimates have handed Khan’s candidates over 150 seats out of 265 National Assembly seats which went to polls on Thursday.
“In spite of two years of oppression, we have won the election by a two-thirds majority,” stated Khan, currently serving a jail term in Rawalpindi for cases he says are “politically motivated”.
According to official results by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), independents backed by Khan have won over 90 seats, as compared to 70 seats won by PML-N.
The counting of votes was still underway with results for 15 seats yet to be announced, as of Saturday morning.
Nawaz Sharif Reaches out to Other Parties
In his victory speech in Lahore on Thursday, PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif told his supporters that he would reach out to Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to try and form a coalition government.
Sharif’s speech came as his party was trailing to independent candidates. However, PML(N) remained the single-biggest party in the election, given that independent, who are allies of Khan, candidates weren’t contesting under the banner of any single party.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army has called on all political parties in the country to “move on from politics of anarchy and polarisation” and provide a “healing touch” to the nation.
“Elections are not a zero-sum competition of winning and losing but an exercise to determine the mandate of the people. Political leadership and their workers should rise above self-interests and synergise efforts in governing and serving the people which is perhaps the only way to make democracy functional and purposeful,” said General Asim Munir, according to a statement by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
“As the people of Pakistan have reposed their combined trust in the Constitution of Pakistan, it is now incumbent upon all political parties to reciprocate the same with political maturity and unity,” Munir added.