Khan's allies take halfway lead in Pakistan vote count
Candidates loyal to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan edged ahead in Pakistan's election on Friday, in front of the two dynastic parties believed favoured by the military with just over half the count completed. Khan was barred from contesting in Thursday's election and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was subject to a sweeping crackdown – blocked from holding rallies and taken off the ballot, forcing candidates to run as independents. But the latest results in a slow counting process showed PTI loyalists had so far won around 49 seats in the 266-member national assembly, against 42 for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and 34 for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), with just over half of constituencies called. Most of the seats won by PTI-backed candidates were in its stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while results were still coming in for the most populous province of Punjab, won by PTI in the last election but where the family of former premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N have historically held sway. Unofficial tallies on local TV stations had independents in the lead for many of the remaining seats up for grabs. Candidates who run as independents can nominate affiliation to any party within 72 hours of victory – a practice that frequently leads to horse-trading and deal-making in Pakistan politics and which could imperil PTI's success. "But even if PTI is unable to form a government, the elections show there are limits to political engineering," said Bilal Gilani, executive director of polling group Gallup Pakistan. "It shows that the military does not always get their way – that is the silver lining," he said. The election was marred by violence, mostly in the border regions neighbouring Afghanistan, with 61 attacks nationwide, the interior ministry said on Friday. At least 16 people were killed – including 10 security force members – and 54 wounded. More than 650,000 army, paramilitary and police personnel were deployed to provide security. (AFP)