Aide of Pakistan ex-PM Khan says party aims to form government, calls for peaceful protests if final election results not released
- Both Imran Khan, who is in jail, and three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have declared victory after Thursday’s general election
- Gohar Khan, the chairman of Imran Khan’s PTI party and also Khan’s lawyer, said if full results were not shared, the party would hold protests on Sunday
Candidates backed by former Pakistani premier Imran Khan’s party plan to form a government, a senior aide to the jailed politician said on Saturday, calling on supporters to peacefully protest if final election results were not released.
The nuclear-armed South Asian nation voted on Thursday in a general election, as the country struggles to recover from an economic crisis and battles militant violence in a deeply polarised political environment.
Both Khan and three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared victory on Friday.
Gohar Khan, the chairman of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf (PTI) party who also acts as the former premier’s lawyer, called on “all institutions” in Pakistan to respect his party’s mandate.
At a press conference, he said if complete results of the polls were not released by Saturday night, the party would hold peaceful protests on Sunday outside government offices returning election results around the country.
Earlier Saturday, Pakistan’s army chief congratulated the country for the “successful conduct” of its national elections, saying the country needed “stable hands” to move on from the politics of “anarchy and polarisation”.