Pakistan Elections 2024 Highlights: Nawaz Sharif Still In Race For PM Post, PML-N Leaders Say
Pakistan Elections 2024 LIVE: Please follow this space for all the updates coming straight from the political battleground of Pakistan.
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Pakistan Elections 2024 LIVE: Please follow this space for all the updates coming straight from the political battleground of Pakistan.
Independents backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party bagged the most seats, totaling 101 seats in the National Assembly. Following closely behind were the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 73 seats and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 54 seats.
Additionally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) secured 17 seats, while smaller parties claimed the remaining seats. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) revealed these results, covering 255 out of 265 seats, by Saturday evening. One seat's election was postponed due to the unfortunate demise of a candidate.
To form a government, a party needs to secure at least 133 seats out of 265 in the National Assembly. Overall, 169 seats are required for a simple majority out of the total 336 seats, including those reserved for women and minorities.
Pakistanis will vote on Thursday to elect a new government to rule the cash-strapped country amid a spree of violence including deadly blasts on the eve of elections in which the front-runner former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is believed to have the backing of the powerful military.
With former prime minister Imran Khan in jail, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is tipped to emerge as the single largest party in the elections.
Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates are contesting the polls independently after the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the election commission to deprive his party of its iconic election symbol cricket 'bat'. Sharif, 74, will be eying the premiership for a record fourth time in Thursday's election.
The contest also involves the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who has been declared as the party's prime minister face.
Pakistan Elections 2024 LIVE: Caretaker PM Kakar says level playing ground enabled PTI-backed candidates to emerge as largest winning group
Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Monday said independents backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan emerged as the single largest group in the general elections only because his government provided “a level playing field” to all parties.
“A large number of independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf emerged as the largest single group on the national and provincial assemblies,” Kakar was quoted as saying by the state-owned news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
Pakistan Elections 2024 LIVE: IPP's Tareen, PTI-P's Khattak quit politics, JI's Haq steps down from party chief position after bad performance in polls
Taking responsibility for the poor performance of their parties in the February 8 polls, Pakistan's IPP chief Jahangir Khan Tareen and PTI-P central chairman Pervez Khattak on Monday announced their decision to quit politics while JI chief Sirajul Haq said he would resign his party chief position. The decision by Tareen of Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), Khattak of Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaaf-Parliamentarian (PTI-P), and Haq of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) came as their parties witnessed significant drubbing in the general elections. (News agency PTI)
Pakistan Elections 2024 LIVE: Nawaz Sharif still in race for PM post, PML-N leaders say
PML-N supremo and three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is still in the race for the prime ministerial slot despite his party not securing a simple majority in the general elections in Pakistan, PML-N leaders said on Monday.
“We are having discussion with Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) over power-sharing formula in the upcoming coalition government in the Centre and Nawaz Sharif cannot be ruled out as the prime ministerial candidate,” Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Senator Irfan Saddique told a private news channel. He said Nawaz Sharif, 74, is the candidate for the prime minister slot from the PML-N.
“Had we got a simple majority, Nawaz would have been the prime minister. However, under the current equation in the Parliament, Nawaz is still in the race for the post of Prime Minister,” Saddique said.
A senior leader of PML-N from Punjab told PTI on Monday that serious deliberations are underway and names of both Nawaz Sharif and his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, 72, are being considered for the top slot. “Nawaz Sharif has a wish to become Prime Minister for the fourth time. And it appears if Nawaz decides then he will be the prime minister,” he added. (News agency PTI)
Pakistan Elections 2024 LIVE: Jamaat-i-Islami party candidate forfeits seat in Sindh, says PTI-backed candidate actual winner
In an unusual move, a senior leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-i-Islami Party on Monday forfeited his seat in the Sindh province that he won in Thursday's elections, saying it was not him but the PTI party-backed candidate who had won from the constituency he contested.
According to the provisional results released by the Election Commission of Pakistan for the February 8 general elections, Naeem won from the PS-129 constituency (Karachi Central VIII) with 26,296 votes.
Pakistan Elections 2024 LIVE: PML-N secures support of one more independent lawmaker
In a boost to the PML-N party, another newly elected independent member of Pakistan's National Assembly on Monday decided to join the party led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as he tries to form a coalition government after the just-concluded election resulted in a hung Parliament.
In total, two independent candidates in the lower House have joined the PML-N. Sardar Shamshir Mazari from NA 189, Imran Akram from PP 195, Sohail Khan from PP 240, Khizr Hussain Mazari from PP 297, and Sahibzada Mohammad Gazin Abbasi from PP 249 were among those who met Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, the President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) posted on X on Monday.
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