The government is shutting down the internet in the country. The results are a long time coming.
Elections are taking place in Pakistan, but it is uncertain whether the country will find peace.
Rebecca Conway / Getty
Until after midnight on Thursday evening, it was not clear who would win the Pakistani elections. The results took a long time to arrive, but at times even the election commission’s website was no longer accessible. The election winner is not expected to be known until Friday.
Pakistan’s elections took place in an atmosphere of mistrust. The government blocked mobile internet in the country and it remained inaccessible until the evening, hours after the polls closed. According to the Interior Ministry, this is a security measure to prevent terrorism. Nevertheless, there were attacks on Thursday: 12 people were killed in attacks, including two children when a bomb exploded near a polling station. Just the day before, 28 people were killed in two attacks in Baluchistan, West Pakistan – the explosions occurred near election offices.
Enormous security measures
Over 5,000 candidates stood for election in Pakistan, including just 313 women. They were all fighting for a seat in the national parliament. 128 million voters are registered in Pakistan. However, the blockage of mobile internet meant that fewer people than usual were able to take part in the elections. According to reports from Pakistan’s second largest city, Lahore, the demonstration in front of the polling stations was more modest than in other years. Residents complained that without mobile internet they could not arrange transportation to the polling stations. The parties also complained about the internet being switched off.
The security measures in front of the polling stations were enormous. Several were guarded by army personnel or armed security guards. A total of 600,000 police and soldiers were deployed. The presence of the military confirmed many citizens’ distrust that their vote would count at all.
This year’s elections are among the most contentious since the state’s founding in 1947. Pakistan’s history is rich in political unrest and military coups. Rarely, however, has the military intervened so obviously in the democratic process of an election.
The most popular party, former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI, is not even allowed to run in the election. Khan had a falling out with the generals while he was in office, he was deposed in 2022 and has been disrupting political activity in the country ever since with protests and disruptive actions.
Its candidates must run as independents. Many people did not dare to campaign at all in the past few days because several PTI party cadres and candidates were arrested in the run-up to the elections. Imran Khan himself has been in custody for months. In the days before the elections, he was sentenced to three prison sentences – one for illegally accepting gifts, one for publishing state secrets and another because his marriage allegedly violated Islamic law. The ex-husband of his wife Bushra Bibi had accused the couple of not waiting three months to get married again after Bibi’s divorce.
Khan’s PTI party was barely featured in the mass media before the elections, even though it has a large following in the country. Local media election reporting is subject to severe restrictions. Foreign journalists reporting on the local elections were also monitored by the secret service.
Alleged manipulation complained about
However, the first, unconfirmed trends from the electoral districts counted showed on Thursday evening that the PTI’s independent candidates may have done better than the military would like. Official election results are not expected to be known until Friday.
Several parties publicly complained about alleged manipulation in the elections. Hundreds of votes were stolen from polling stations. Only the top candidate and the generals’ favorite, Nawaz Sharif, described the elections as “absolutely fair” to reporters on Thursday afternoon.
Whoever rules Pakistan in the coming years will face huge challenges. The country is divided, and dissatisfaction with the military as the unofficial highest authority in the country is growing. This also has to do with the tense economic situation. Inflation is high, the currency is weak, and even Pakistan’s elite is feeling the consequences of the ongoing economic crisis. There are likely to be more turbulent months ahead for the country.