Pakistan police warned on Sunday that they would crack down heavily on illegal gatherings after jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party urged supporters to protest alleged rigging in last week’s election.
Independent candidates – most of whom are associated with Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party – secured the most seats in the election, increasing the chances of the military-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) winning the ruling party. Decreased. majority.
But independents cannot form a government, and the country faces several weeks of political uncertainty as rival parties negotiate a possible coalition.
PTI leaders claim that if there had been no vote rigging, they would have won even more seats.
A nationwide mobile telephone blackout on election day and slow counting of results led to suspicions that the military establishment was influencing the process to ensure PML-N’s success.
“Elections were manipulated in subtle ways across Pakistan,” PTI chairman Gauhar Ali Khan said at a press conference on Saturday. He called on supporters to “protest peacefully” on Sunday.
Authorities warned they would take tough action, saying so-called Section 144 orders were in place – a colonial-era law banning gatherings of two or more people.