PESHAWAR: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan had bagged 545,922 votes from five national assembly constituencies which is the highest number of aggregate votes got by any candidate in general election 2108.
Imran Khan got 92,891 votes from NA 53, 113,822 votes from NA 35 Bannu, 163,538 from NA 95 Minawali, 84,313 votes from NA 131 Lahore and 91,358 votes from NA 243 Karachi.
Relevant pieces published earlier:
i) Most people of Pakistan want to see Imran Khan as the prime minister, Gallup Exit Poll on the Election Day reported on Friday. The Gallup Pakistan Exit Poll (Election Day Survey) had asked a nationally representative sample of voters on the Election Day: “If you have to choose one of these six candidates as the next Prime Minister, who would you choose?”. According to the survey, 42% responded they would select Imran Khan as the next Prime Minister, followed by 28% who said Shehbaz Sharif and 14% who said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Two percent respondents each wanted to see Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Asif Ali Zardari as Pakistan’s next prime minister, whereas, 1% respondents favored Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Three percent respondents named other individuals and 7% remained uncertain. ii) In a piece run by The New York Times, it has been held that: “Imran Khan, the prime minister-in-waiting, has the best chance to reshape Pakistan’s image as he brings something new: more star power and mystique than any recent Pakistani leader!”
TNYT has further stated: “For a nation often in the news for all the wrong reasons” suicide bombings, horrific school massacres” Pakistan has reached a turning point that could possibly alter its dysfunctional trajectory, Imran Khan, the cricket star and A-list celebrity whose political party won this past week’s elections, could use his fame and charisma to reset Pakistan’s troubled relations with the West,” the newspaper said as the Oxford-educated leader works to form his government following the July 25 election which he overwhelmingly won.
Times’ correspondent Jeffrey Gettleman wrote that Imran has perhaps a better chance to change the country’s narrative.
“Relatively few Pakistani leaders have won over the West,” Michael Kugelman, deputy director for the South Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, was quoted as saying. “But Khan is familiar with operating in the international world. He already has strong name recognition. He doesn’t need to be introduced.”
“In many ways, Pakistan is a pivotal nation. It is the world’s sixth-most populous country, with 200 million people. It is also nuclear-armed and strategically located next to India, China, Iran, and Afghanistan,” it was pointed out.
Noting that for decades it has been cast in turmoil by suicide bombers and extremist groups, the Times said, “But many parts of the country are safer today than they were a few years ago. New malls, new schools, and new Dunkin – Donuts outlets are going up. And now Pakistan is poised to get a new global salesman.”
“It is widely expected that if Mr. Khan, 65, becomes prime minister, there will be an initial fascination with him as he tours the world. Most likely, he’ll visit foreign capitals and business titans, seeking help to solve Pakistan’s dire debt crisis and bring in investors. He also seems to have China in mind…”
In an address to the nation last week, Khan mentioned China no fewer than seven times, praising it for lifting millions out of poverty and for fighting corruption. “God willing,” he said, “we’ll learn that from China.”
Pakistan, the dispatch pointed out, is hurtling toward possible default and insolvency, and China has already lent it billions of dollars for new roads and railways, at discounted rates. Two days after Khan’s speech, Pakistani newspapers reported that China would lend the incoming government $2 billion more for “breathing space.”
Referring to opposition parties’ criticism of the way the elections were conducted, the Times said, “With the competition so thoroughly eviscerated and Mr. Khan genuinely popular, especially among the youth, he now would surge into office with a strong national following.”
According to the latest updated results released this weekend, his party won nearly four million more votes than its nearest competitor, the PML-N. Khan’s party commands a huge lead in the National Assembly with more than 100 seats, compared with PML-N. at around 64; it also performed well in provincial assemblies.
“Khan might be more inclined to butt heads,” Marvin Weinbaum, a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington and former State Department intelligence analyst, was quoted as saying. “The difference with Imran is going to be because he’s a populist, he feels he can go further than Nawaz.”
About his views on religion, the Times pointed to his stance that he wants to reform the madrassa system.
Citing analysts, the dispatch said there are only two issues the West really cares about in Pakistan: militant groups and nuclear arms. But the biggest issue that Imran Khan will control is the economy. “This is where he could shine as a leader or quickly be subsumed,” it said, pointing out that Pakistan is facing a balance of payments crisis, its currency has rapidly devalued, its debt is soaring.”
It quoted economists as saying that the steps the next prime minister must take are obvious were painful. “The national budget needs to be cut, Pakistanis must pay more for energy, old state-run businesses need to be privatized and taxes – many more taxes – need to be collected,” the dispatch said.
According to the Pakistani government, last year less than one million out of Pakistan’s 200 million people paid taxes. (Published on 30th of July 2018)
