science-and-innovation
India's top court strikes down system for anonymous political donations ahead of national elections
India’s top court on Thursday struck down a controversial election funding system that allowed individuals and companies to send unlimited donations to political parties without the need to disclose donor identity, a system critics have long said is undemocratic and favored Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party.
A five-judge constitution bench on the Supreme Court ruled that “electoral bonds” are unconstitutional and violate citizens' right to information held by the government. It ordered the government-owned State Bank of India to stop issuing these bonds and provide details of donations made through them to the Election Commission of India.
The electoral bond scheme was introduced by Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in 2017. Before that, political parties in India had to disclose the identity of any donor who gave more than 20,000 rupees (about $240). But the latest instrument of political financing allowed them to declare the amount of money they received through the bonds, but not the funders’ identity.
Read: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opens stone-built Hindu temple in UAE ahead of India's elections
These bonds were sold in denominations ranging from 1,000 rupees ($12) to 10 million rupees ($120,000).
Modi’s party has said the bonds have reformed political finance by eliminating the use of cash, but critics say the system is opaque due to the anonymous nature of the donations. They also say the state-owned bank has a record of donors and recipients, which makes it easy for the government to access the information and influence donors.
The Supreme Court's verdict comes just months ahead of a national election and is seen as a setback to Modi’s ruling party, which has been the largest beneficiary of the system.
From 2018 to 2023, anonymous donors have given more than $1.9 billion to political parties through these bonds, according to Association for Democratic Reforms, an election watchdog. It said between 2018 and March 2022 nearly 57% of these donations went to Modi’s BJP. In comparison, the opposition Congress party has only received 10%.
Only registered political parties that received a minimum of 1% of votes in a previous election for the parliament or a state assembly were eligible to receive these bonds.
Protesting Indian farmers clash with police for a second day as they march toward the capital
Protesting Indian farmers clashed with police for a second consecutive day on Wednesday as tens of thousands tried to march to the capital to demand guaranteed prices for their produce.
Police fired tear gas at the farmers near the Shambhu border, which divides northern Punjab and Haryana states, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from New Delhi. TV images also showed police using drones to drop tear gas canisters on the farmers, who tried to break through barricades made of cement blocks and barbed wires.
Tens of thousands of farmers, traveling on trucks and wagons loaded with food and other supplies, began marching toward the capital on Tuesday after talks between farm leaders and government ministers failed to produce any consensus on their key demand for legislation guaranteeing a minimum support price for their produce.
Read: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opens stone-built Hindu temple in UAE ahead of India's elections
The farmers are also pressing the government to follow through on its promise to double their income, waive their loans and withdraw legal cases brought against them during earlier 2021 protests, when they camped on the capital’s outskirts to demonstrate against controversial agriculture laws. Prime Minister Narendra Modi later withdrew the laws in a rare retreat and promised to find ways to ensure minimum support prices for all farm produce.
Some farmer and trade unions have announced a countrywide rural strike on Friday.
“We don’t want the government to say that farmers were being invited for talks but they are not coming. So we said that we are ready to have a discussion,” Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a leader of one of the farmer groups, told reporters.
Police in riot gear maintained tight security at multiple entry points into New Delhi to prevent the farmers from entering the capital. They blocked major highways with barriers made of giant metal containers, barbed wire, spikes and cement blocks. Mobile internet was suspended for a second day in some areas of Haryana to prevent communication among the protesters.
Read: Pakistan's former premier Sharif and allies agree to form a coalition
The march comes just months before a national election in which Modi is widely expected to win a third term. The protests could pose a significant challenge for him and his governing Bharatiya Janata Party because farmers form a key voting bloc.
The farmers have received support from opposition parties, which have condemned the government’s attempt to block them from reaching the capital.
On Tuesday, the main opposition Congress party said it would pass legislation providing minimum support prices if it is voted into power in the upcoming national election.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opens stone-built Hindu temple in UAE ahead of India's elections
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Middle East's first traditional stone-built Hindu temple on Wednesday, internationalizing both his reelection campaign and his effort to push secular India into a Hindu state.
The trip to the BAPS Hindu Mandir just north of the city of Abu Dhabi capped Modi's whistlestop tour of the United Arab Emirates during which the Indian leader embraced the UAE's president, describing him as a brother and also spoke before a global leaders at a Dubai summit.
Modi is widely expected to win a third term as prime minister in the upcoming elections in India, the world's largest democracy. But Modi's policies and his governing Bharatiya Janata Party have raised concerns over India's future, particularly for members of its Muslim minority as they have come under attack in recent years by Hindu nationalist groups.
That has made warming Indian relations with the Muslim-led Gulf Arab states crucial not only for India's energy security and for millions of its expatriate workers in the region, but also its international standing.
Read: Thousands of Indian farmers are marching to New Delhi to renew their demands over crop prices
“Every part of the time that God has given me and the body that God has given me are all for Mother India,” Modi told the crowd gathered at the temple, drawing rapturous cheers in what at times resembled a campaign stop.
Even Hindu priest Brahmaviharidas Swami, who helped build the temple, made a point to repeatedly praise Modi's work, calling him “the most beloved prime minister perhaps that India has ever had.”
The temple in Abu Mureikha was built by the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha or BAPS, a worldwide religious and civic organization within the Swaminarayan sect. Modi has close ties to the organization.
Modi walked past the temple's seven spires, a nod to the autocratic UAE's seven sheikhdoms. He looked inside the temple, where earlier Wednesday a priest had consecrated the statues of deities, each worshipped by different Hindu denominations across India.
Modi waved to thousands gathered for the event, described as a Festival of Harmony. Children greeted Modi, others cheered as he toured the temple with priests.
“Today, the United Arab Emirates has written a golden chapter in human history," Modi told the crowd. "A beautiful and divine temple is being inaugurated here. Many years of hard work have been involved behind this moment."
Back in India, Modi in January opened a Hindu temple built on the ruins of a historic mosque in the northern city of Ayodhya.
Read: We should be equally conscious that ‘normal’ can be manipulated: Jaishankar in Indian Ocean Conf
That temple is dedicated to Hinduism’s Lord Ram and had been wanted by Hindus who describe it as restoring a religion suppressed by centuries of Mughal and British colonial rule. But the 1992 demolition of the mosque at the site trigged riots across India that killed 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.
Earlier Wednesday, Modi spoke before the World Governments Summit in Dubai, hosted by the city-state's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Much of the speech could be seen as a stump speech on the global stage, describing his years in power as pushing for “minimum government, maximum governance.”
“Over the years, the trust of the people of the country on the government of India has become stronger,” Modi said. “People have full faith in both the intentions and commitments of our government.”
“It is as a friend to the world that India is moving forward," he said.
Modi's personal touch on the trip, including embracing Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, seems aimed at further cementing ties with the UAE, an oil-rich country that supplies India's energy needs while also serving as a home for some 3.5 million of his countrymen abroad. Modi at one point urged people to give Sheikh Mohammed a standing ovation at the event.
The relationship also underscores the Emirates’ realpolitik foreign policy. Modi received the Emirates’ top civilian honor in 2019 even as he stripped statehood from the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.
Indonesian defense chief linked to past rights abuses claims victory in presidential election
Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, an ex-general linked to past human rights atrocities, claimed victory in Indonesia's presidential election on Wednesday based on unofficial tallies.
The 72-year-old candidate, who was once banned by the United States from entering for two decades due to his human rights record, told thousands of supporters in a sports stadium in the capital, Jakarta, that the victory, according to an early, unofficial “quick count,” was “the victory of all Indonesians.”
There was no declaration by electoral officials and the two former provincial governors who also contested the election in the world's third-largest democracy have not conceded defeat.
Subianto has presented himself as an heir to immensely popular sitting President Joko Widodo and vowed to continue his economic development plans. Subianto, who chose Widodo's son has his running mate, was an army general during the brutal period of the Suharto dictatorship that ended just over 25 years ago. He served as a special forces commander in a unit linked to torture and disappearances, allegations that he vehemently denies.
According to the unofficial tallies conducted by Indonesian polling agencies, Subianto had between 57% and 59% of votes, with more than 80% of the vote counted in polling places sampled.
The quick counts are based on the actual vote count at a sample of polling stations across Indonesia. The laborious official count may not be finished for up to a month, but quick counts have provided an accurate picture of the results of all four presidential elections held in Indonesia since it began direct voting in 2004.
“We are grateful for the quick count results,” he said in the speech, broadcast on national television. “We should not be arrogant, we should not be proud, we should not be euphoric, we still have to be humble, this victory must be a victory for all Indonesian people.”
To avoid a runoff against his rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, Subianto needs more than 50% of all votes cast and at least 20% in each of the country’s provinces.
Widodo’s successor will inherit an economy with impressive growth and ambitious infrastructure projects, including the ongoing transfer of the nation’s capital from congested Jakarta to the frontier island of Borneo at a staggering cost exceeding $30 billion.
The election also has high stakes for the United States and China, since Indonesia has a huge domestic market, natural resources like nickel and palm oil, and diplomatic influence with its Southeast Asian neighbors.
Widodo’s rise from a riverside slum to the presidency has shown the vibrancy of Indonesia’s democracy in a region rife with authoritarian regimes.
But with a leading candidate linked to a former dictator, and Widodo’s son on the ballot, some observers fear that democracy is eroding.
Indonesians voted on Wednesday in an election that took just six hours. The logistics of the vote across the tropical nation's 17,000 islands inhabited by 270 million people were daunting: Ballot boxes and ballots were transported by boats, motorcycles, horses and on foot in some of the more far-flung locations.
Aside from the presidency, some 20,000 national, provincial and district parliamentary posts were contested by tens of thousands of candidates in one of the world's largest elections, which authorities said concluded with no major problems. About 10,000 aspirants from 18 political parties eyed the national parliament’s 580 seats alone.
Voters interviewed by The Associated Press expressed hope their next leader would help them achieve greater prosperity in a country where nearly a tenth of the population still lives in poverty.
“I hope Indonesia can progress better and that I did not vote for the wrong person,” said Indra Nurohim, a 17-year-old high school student and first-time voter. “I hope we will have a better government.”
Subianto, the oldest presidential candidate at 72, lost in two previous runs to Widodo but was the front-runner in independent surveys. His running mate, Widodo's eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was allowed to run when the Constitutional Court made an exception to the minimum age requirement of 40. The court was then headed by Widodo’s brother-in-law, who was removed by an ethics panel for not recusing himself, and Widodo was accused of favoritism and nepotism.
Critics have accused Widodo of trying to build a political dynasty despite him being the first president to emerge from outside the political and military elite since the 1998 end of the dictatorial rule of Suharto, characterized by widespread human rights violations, plunder and political unrest.
Subianto, a former lieutenant general who married one of Suharto's daughters, was a longtime commander in the army special forces, called Kopassus. He was dishonorably discharged in 1998 after Kopassus forces kidnapped and tortured political opponents of Suharto.
Of at least 22 activists kidnapped that year, 13 remain missing to this day, and their families protest weekly outside the presidential palace demanding the activists be accounted for. Subianto never faced a trial and denied any involvement, although several of his men were tried and convicted.
During the campaign period that concluded last weekend, Subianto and his strategists used AI and social media platforms like TikTok to soften his image by portraying him as a cuddly grandfather to his youthful running mate. Rejected by human rights activists, he danced on the campaign stage and promised to generate nearly 20 million jobs in his first term if elected.
Baswedan, the former head of an Islamic university, served as governor of Jakarta until last year. A former Fulbright scholar, Baswedan was education and culture minister from 2014 to 2016, when Widodo removed him from the Cabinet after accusing him of failing to address problems of thousands of students affected by forest fires.
Baswedan opposes Widodo’s plan to move the Indonesian capital from Jakarta to Nusantara on Borneo island, which involves constructing government buildings and residential enclaves by clearing lush tropical rainforests.
In an interview with the AP last month, he said democracy in Indonesia is under threat, given Subianto’s choice of the president's son as running mate.
“This means that there is a decline in trust, it means that our democracy is experiencing a decline in quality, it means that many legal rules are being bent,” he said.
Pranowo is the governing party candidate but does not have Widodo's support. He was a national legislator for the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle for 10 years before being elected in 2013 for the first of two terms as governor of the vote-rich Central Java region.
While governor, Pranowo refused to allow Israel to participate in the Under-20 FIFA World Cup to be held in his province. FIFA subsequently dropped Indonesia as host of the games, angering Indonesian soccer fans and Widodo.
Israel and Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, do not have diplomatic ties.
Under Widodo, Indonesia saw a period of remarkable growth averaging 5% annually, except in 2020, when the economy contracted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
His economic roadmap, called “Golden Indonesia 2045,” projects Indonesia becoming one of the world’s top five economies with GDP of up to $9 trillion, exactly a century after it won independence from Dutch colonizers.
Pakistan's former premier Sharif and allies agree to form a coalition
The party of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and its allies announced late Tuesday that they will jointly form a coalition government, ending the uncertainty since last week when no party won a simple majority in parliamentary elections.
The latest development came hours after the parties — all of them rivals of the country's imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan — met in Islamabad.
The meeting was attended by the Pakistan People's Party of former President Asif Ali Zardari and by Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, including his younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif, who replaced Khan when he was ousted through a no-confidence vote in parliament in 2022.
At a news conference with Zardari and other politicians, Shebaz Sharif did not say who would be the joint choice for prime minister, though it is widely believed that Sharif would head the new government. In his brief remarks, Sharif said that the talks on a coalition were successful.
“We have decided that we will form the government jointly," Zardari said.
Read: Pakistan's premier defends the delay in releasing election results and denies the vote was unfair
A spokesperson for the Pakistan Muslim League, Marriyum Aurangzeb, said that the elder Sharif — a three-time prime minister — had nominated his younger brother for the prime minister role.
The Pakistan Muslim League party had been in talks with Zardari and other allies after Thursday's election for the National Assembly or lower house of the parliament.
Though candidates backed by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party won 93 out of 265 National Assembly seats, it was not enough to form a government. Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League and Zardari's Pakistan People's Party won 75 and 54 seats respectively.
The surprisingly strong showing for Khan's party were a shock for former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was marked out as the powerful security establishment’s preferred candidate following his smooth return to the country last October.
Pakistan’s military has always cast itself as the ultimate arbiter in who becomes prime minister.
Tuesday's move by the rivals of Khan came hours after Khan's PTI party refused to hold any talks with them. Khan, who is currently serving multiple prison terms because of convictions on charges of corruption and violating a marriage law, was disqualified from contesting the vote.
Read: Pakistan's election left no clear winner. So who is likely to govern and what happens next?
Members of Khan’s party also had to contest the vote as independent candidates after the Election Commission and Supreme Court stripped his party of its electoral symbol, which helps illiterate voters find candidates on the ballot. They also imposed other legal barriers.
Khan's party says last Thursday's vote was rigged to stop it from getting a majority in the parliament, a charge the election officials denied.
Under the constitution, Pakistan's President Arif Alvi will convene the inaugural National Assembly session before Feb. 29 so that lawmakers can be sworn in. The parliament will later elect the new prime minister.
The stakes in Indonesia as the world’s third-largest democracy elects a new president
Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, will open its polls on Wednesday to nearly 205 million eligible voters in presidential and legislative elections, the fifth since Southeast Asia’s largest economy began democratic reforms in 1998.
The sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands and more than 270 million people from about 1,300 ethnic groups is a bastion of democracy in Southeast Asia, a diverse and economically vibrant region of authoritarian regimes, police states and nascent democracies.
WHAT IS AT STAKE IN THE ELECTION?The presidential election will determine who will succeed President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, who is serving his second and final term.
The election is shaping up to be a three-way race among current Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and two former governors, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo. If none of the candidates secures more than 50% of the votes in the first round, a runoff between the top two is scheduled for June 26.
Tens of thousands of candidates across the world’s largest archipelago nation are battling for some 20,000 national, provincial and district parliamentary positions. About 10,000 candidates from 18 political parties are contesting for spots in the 580-seat national parliament alone.
Political parties are required to have a woman in at least every third position in their party list, and parties need at least 4% of votes across the country to qualify for representation in the national parliament.
A party or coalition of parties needs to control at least 20% of seats in national parliament to nominate a presidential candidate.
HOW DOES INDONESIA’S ELECTION WORK?Any Indonesian citizen who is 17 or older can vote, but members of the police and military are banned from voting, though their families can.
In this year’s election, about 52% of registered voters are under the age of 40. A third of them are under the age of 30, making the “youth vote” important, and candidates have been making a concerted effort to target them through social media campaigns.
Voters can cast their ballots at over 820,000 polling stations across Indonesia’s three time zones. Polls will open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 1:00 p.m. and will be overseen by about 7 million election officials and independent workers. Indonesians living overseas have been casting votes since Feb. 5 at 3,000 polling stations in many countries or by mail.
Once entering a voting booth, a voter must deal with five ballots at once and choose one of the three pairs of presidential and vice presidential hopefuls, as well as representatives at the national, provincial, regional, regency and city levels, making it the most complex election in the world.
Votes are counted in public at polling stations.
WHY DO THESE ELECTIONS MATTER?Located between the Indian and Pacific oceans, Indonesia is the world’s largest island chain and spans an equivalent distance from New York to London. It is the world’s fourth most populous country, with a rich cultural heritage and diverse natural resources. Nearly 90% of Indonesia’s 277 million people are Muslims, making it the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.
Indonesia’s strategic location also gives it geopolitical significance, and as a member of several international organizations, including the United Nations, G20 and ASEAN, it plays a key role in regional and global affairs. Indonesia’s political stability plays a central role in maintaining regional peace and stability.
WHAT IS WIDODO’S ROLE IN THE ELECTION?There is unease in civil society that Widodo wants to retain influence even after leaving office. Activists, students and university lecturers in recent days have expressed concern over democratic standards in Indonesia, citing unethical, corrupt and nepotistic practices and worsening quality of life in the country.
Widodo faces mounting criticism over his lack of neutrality after he threw his support behind frontrunner Subianto, who has picked Widodo’s son as his running mate. Widodo has distanced himself from the governing Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, under whose banner he ran in 2014 and 2019, since the party nominated Ganjar Pranowo and former top security minister in his cabinet, Mohammad Mahfud, as presidential and vice presidential candidates.
WHO IS LIKELY TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY?With three presidential candidates running, the electoral rules require a candidate to win at least 50% of the national vote and at least 20% of the vote in each province to avoid a runoff.
Various polling institutions have forecast that Subianto and his vice presidential candidate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, will likely win the first round. But whether they will get enough votes to win the election outright or be forced into a runoff is still unclear as observers say undecided voters will have a significant impact on results. About one-fifth of Indonesians fell in this category in late December surveys.
The new president will be inaugurated on Oct. 20 and will have to appoint a Cabinet within two weeks.
WHEN ARE RESULTS EXPECTED?The official vote-counting process, which is lengthy and laborious, may take up to 35 days to be completed, the maximum time regulated by the Elections Law.
But the public can expect numerous early vote count results based on sampling, as registered private polling and survey groups will deploy thousands of volunteers and staff to polling stations nationwide.
The early results, widely known as a “quick count,” are considered a reliable indicator of what the official count will show when all votes are tallied in about a month.
Thousands of Indian farmers are marching to New Delhi to renew their demands over crop prices
Indian authorities Tuesday deployed heavy security to stop thousands of protesting farmers who were marching toward New Delhi to renew their demands for assured crop prices in a repeat of 2021 protests when they camped on the capital's outskirts for more than a year.
Police sealed multiple entry points into New Delhi by erecting barriers of barbed wire, spikes and cement blocks. Large gatherings in the capital were banned and internet services were suspended in some districts of the neighboring Haryana state.
The renewed protests come more than two years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew controversial agriculture laws that had triggered the protests in which tens of thousands of farmers hunkered outside the capital through a harsh winter and a devastating COVID-19 surge.
Farmers, who began their march from northern Haryana and Punjab states, are asking for a guaranteed minimum support price for all farm produce. The government protects agricultural producers against any sharp fall in farm prices by announcing a minimum purchase price on certain essential crops at the beginning of the sowing season, taking into account the cost of production.
Farmers are also pressing the government to meet its promise to double their income.
The withdrawal of the agricultural laws in November 2021 was seen as a major retreat by the Modi government. The government at that time said it would set up a panel of farmers and government officials to find ways to ensure support prices for all farm produce. Multiple meetings since then have made no progress.
The march comes just months before national elections in India, in which Modi is widely expected to win a third term.
"We do not want to break any barricades. We want resolution of our issues through dialogue. But if they (the government) do nothing then what will we do? It is our compulsion," Sarwan Singh Pandher, a leader of one of the farmer groups, told reporters Tuesday.
Pandher said talks between farm leaders and government ministers Monday failed to produce any consensus on their key demands and that the government had refused to make a decision.
Farmers form the most influential voting bloc in India and politicians have long considered it unwise to alienate them.
Some farmer and trade unions have also announced a countrywide rural strike on Friday.
Pakistan's premier defends the delay in releasing election results and denies the vote was unfair
Pakistan's caretaker prime minister on Monday defended the widely criticized delay in announcing the results of last week's parliamentary election, saying authorities took only 36 hours to count over 60 million votes while grappling with militant attacks.
Anwaarul-Haq-Kakar insisted that a “level playing field” was available to all political parties, including that of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan, and pointed out that election results in 2018, when Khan won office, had been announced after 66 hours.
Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, won more seats than any other in Thursday's election, but only because its candidates ran as independents after the party was expelled from the vote. The candidates won 93 out of 265 National Assembly seats, not enough to form a government. Khan couldn't run because of criminal convictions that he calls politically motivated.
The Pakistan Muslim League-N party, led by three-time premier and ex-felon Nawaz Sharif, secured 75 seats. The Pakistan People’s Party, or PPP, led by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, came in third with 54 seats.
The two parties, which led the campaign to kick Khan out of office in 2022, were in talks to form a coalition government.
Sharif was marked as the Pakistani security establishment’s preferred candidate because of his smooth return to the country in October. He spent four years in exile to avoid serving prison sentences, but his convictions were overturned within weeks of his arrival.
The vote was overshadowed by allegations of vote-rigging and an unprecedented mobile phone shutdown. The Election Commission denied the allegations of rigging.
Kakar told a news conference that mobile phone service was suspended on election day for security reasons following a pair of militant attacks that killed 30 people in southwestern Baluchistan province a day before the vote. He said that security forces last week killed a key militant from the Islamic State group who was behind the elections-related attacks.
He said he could afford a delay in announcing results “but not the terrorism."
Kakar said the elections were largely peaceful, free and fair, and the process to install a new government could begin in the next eight or nine days when the National Assembly is expected to convene. He said the parliament will elect the speaker, deputy speaker and new prime minister.
Kakar also said people were allowed to hold peaceful protests but warned that action would be taken if rallies turned violent.
On Monday, thousands of Khan's supporters and members of other political parties blocked key highways and held a daylong strike in the volatile southwest to protest alleged vote-rigging. Separately, several nationalist and Islamist political parties in Baluchistan blocked two highways leading to Iranian and Afghan border crossings.
Jan Achakzai, a government spokesman in Baluchistan, urged protesters to “show grace” by accepting defeat and moving away from the highways.
The U.N. secretary-general urged Pakistan's parties and political leaders “to maintain a calm atmosphere" and reject any actions that could increase tensions, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The statement called for all disputes to be settled through established legal frameworks and for rights to be respected.
Pakistan's election left no clear winner. So who is likely to govern and what happens next?
Pakistan’s parliamentary elections left no clear winner.
Allies of imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan won the most seats in the lower house of parliament in the elections last Thursday. It was a shock outcome given the obstacles: His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party could hold no campaign rallies, had no polling agents on election day and faced internet restrictions. They won 93 out of 265 National Assembly seats. It’s not enough to form a government, however.
The other two mainstream parties, led by Khan’s rivals, also failed to secure enough seats to form a government on their own. They are the PML-N of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the PPP, led by political dynasty scion Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari. They won 75 and 54 seats respectively.
It’s Pakistan’s parliament that chooses the next prime minister, so having a majority is crucial.
WHO'S IN THE RUNNING?
Not Imran Khan. He’s in prison and barred from holding public office. The PTI said it doesn’t want or need an alliance, claiming it has enough seats. It doesn't. The party has public support — as shown by the number of seats that candidates scooped up — but it doesn’t have the backing of political peers.
Analyst Azim Chaudhry said the other parties have “grievances and grudges” against Khan from his time in office and that they’re not ready to shake hands with him because he’s made it clear he doesn’t want to talk to them.
The PML-N and PPP started coalition talks once it became clear that Khan loyalists had taken a lead. They claim to have pacts with smaller parties and newly minted parliamentarians, including defectors from Khan’s side, to bump up their seat quota to the magic majority number of 169.
But knowing who could become prime minister from this ragtag crowd is trickier.
Party insiders say Sharif isn’t suited to a coalition because of his temperament. His younger brother, Shehbaz, led a coalition after Khan was ousted from power and is regarded as more accommodating.
And then there’s Bhutto-Zardari, a former foreign minister. It’s not clear if he’ll want the top job in a government that came to power through such a tainted election.
But he and his party are key to any coalition because they have the third largest share of seats. Not for nothing is his father, Asif Ali Zardari, regarded as a kingmaker. He won’t do something that jeopardizes his son’s political future, like joining hands with Khan, according to Chaudhry.
There’s a chance of an outside candidate becoming prime minister to keep all sides happy, but it’s hard to see the two families relinquishing their claim to power.
WHAT'S THE MOOD?
People are unhappy about the way the election unfolded and how votes were counted. Legal challenges are underway to contest some results. There are protests and allegations about vote-rigging, with Khan’s supporters in particular angry about what they perceive as electoral theft. Police have used tear gas to disperse crowds and arrested dozens of people in sporadic demonstrations that have broken out across Pakistan. The international community and rights groups have expressed concern about voting irregularities.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Pakistan’s president has to convene the inaugural session of the new National Assembly within 21 days of the election, or Feb. 29. Lawmakers are sworn in during that session. They submit nomination papers for a number of key roles, including the speaker and leader of the house. After these positions are filled, a new prime minister is elected through a parliamentary vote, a task that requires a simple majority.
Khan supporters and other Pakistani parties block highways to protest election results
Thousands of supporters of Pakistan's imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and members of other political parties blocked key highways and started a daylong strike in the volatile southwest Monday to protest alleged rigging of last week's elections.
Thursday's vote to choose a new parliament was overshadowed by the vote-rigging allegations, an unprecedented mobile phone shutdown, and the exclusion of Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, from the vote.
While election winners were celebrating victory, PTI and other parties refused to accept their defeat in dozens of constituencies. Dozens of Khan’s supporters were briefly detained in the eastern city of Lahore over the weekend while protesting alleged vote-rigging.
Jan Achakzai, a government spokesman in the southwest province of Baluchistan, urged protesters to “show grace” by accepting defeat and moving away from the highways.
Read: Allies of ex-premier Imran Khan secure biggest share of seats in Pakistan's final election tally
Khan could not run in the election because of the criminal convictions against him that he says are politically motivated.
Still, candidates backed by Khan won more seats than the political parties who ousted him from power nearly two years ago, according to the final tally published Sunday.
No party won a majority, however, so the parties will have to hold talks on forming a coalition government. The new parliament chooses the country’s next prime minister.
Candidates aligned with Khan secured 101 out of 266 seats in the National Assembly, or lower house of parliament.
The Pakistan Muslim League-N party led by three-time premier and ex-felon Nawaz Sharif secured 75. Sharif is currently in talks with allies to form a coalition government.
Read: Pakistan hits back at criticism of election conduct and insists cellphone curbs were necessary
The Pakistan People’s Party, or PPP, led by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, came in third with 54 seats. One result has been withheld and another vote was postponed because of a candidate’s death. The campaign to kick Khan out of office in 2022 was led by the PML-N and the PPP.
Pakistan’s military has always cast itself as the ultimate arbiter of who becomes prime minister, and Sharif was marked out as the powerful security establishment’s preferred candidate because of his smooth return to the country last October.
Sharif spent four years in exile to avoid serving prison sentences but his convictions were overturned within weeks of his arrival in Pakistan.