Former cricket star Imran Khan has declared victory for his political party in Pakistan’s general elections. Pakistani television stations say Khan’s PTI party, has a commanding lead in the voting. But the national election commission has yet to release official results. Khan, who hopes to be Pakistan’s next prime minister, said in a statement “thanks to God, we won and we were successful.” His supporters celebrated outside party offices across the country. Many of them were young men, who danced to the sound of beating drums covered in the PTI’s black and green-colored flags.

Khan’s message of a “new” Pakistan appealed to young voters in Pakistan – a country where the United Nations says 64 percent of its people are below the age of 30.

At least 10 television stations in Pakistan reported that the PTI won as many as 119 of the 270 contested seats in the National Assembly. The 342-seat assembly has seats reserved for women and minorities.

Supporters of politician Imran Khan, chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, dance to celebrate the victory of their party candidate, outside their leader's home in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, July 26, 2018.

Khan’s leading opponent, Shahbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, rejected the election results as the votes were being counted. Sharif wrote on Twitter that “had the public mandate been delivered in a fair manner, we would have accepted it happily.”

The independent Human Rights Commission reported that in some places, women were not permitted to vote. In other areas, it said, “polling staff appeared to be biased toward a certain party,” without naming the party.

İn the days before the elections, rights activist I.A. Rehman called the campaign “the dirtiest” in Pakistan’s push toward democracy.

Aliqismet BADALOV,
“Khalq qazeti”