Preliminary, unofficial poll results on Thursday showed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), headed by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, tipped for victory, a day after Pakistan voted for its second consecutive democratic transfer of power.
As PTI workers from across the country celebrated the results, the outgoing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) flatly rejected the suggested outcome, citing “outright rigging” and accusing officials of preventing its representatives from overseeing the count.
The Election Commission of Pakistan denied the claims, saying a new electronic results system suffered unexpected glitches leading to a delay in the formal vote count. Despite the technical issues, “these elections were 100 per cent fair and transparent”, said Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza earlier today, in his first comments after polls closed.
