ISLAMABAD, Feb 10, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Pakistan's army chief told feuding 
politicians Saturday to show "maturity and unity" after an election failed to 
produce a clear winner, leaving the military's favoured party having to 
cobble together a coalition in order to rule.

The country faces days of political horse-trading after a strong performance 
by independent candidates loyal to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan 
scuppered the chances of the army-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) 
from winning a ruling majority.

Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) defied a months-long crackdown that 
crippled campaigning and forced candidates to run as independents with a 
combined showing that still challenged their rivals.

The military looms large over Pakistan's political landscape, with generals 
having run the country for nearly half its history since partition from India 
in 1947.

"Elections are not a zero-sum competition of winning and losing but an 
exercise to determine the mandate of the people," army chief General Syed 
Asim Munir said in a statement released by the military.

"As the people of Pakistan have reposed their combined trust in the 
Constitution of Pakistan, it is now incumbent upon all political parties to 
reciprocate the same with political maturity and unity.

"The nation needs stable hands and a healing touch to move on from the 
politics of anarchy and polarisation which does not suit a progressive 
country of 250 million people."

- Forced to cut deals -

After long delays in results that prompted further allegations that the 
military establishment had engaged in vote-rigging, PML-N declared victory 
Friday as the party with the largest number of seats.

However, to form a government, the party founded by three-time former prime 
minister Nawaz Sharif will be forced to cut deals with rivals and 
independents.

There were reports late Friday of leaders from several parties arriving in 
PML-N's power base of Lahore for talks.

"We don't have enough of a majority to run the government ourselves, 
therefore we invite the other parties and candidates who have been successful 
to work with us," Sharif said at his party headquarters in the city.

In an AI-generated video produced by PTI, Khan was credited as claiming 
victory for the party.

"According to independent sources, we were winning 150 national assembly 
seats before the rigging started," said the message posted on his X account, 
which featured a genuine video clip of him from a year ago and an AI-
generated voice-over.

A slow counting process showed independents had won at least 100 seats -- 89 
of them loyal to Khan -- by Saturday morning.

PML-N took 71 and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) snapped up 54, with 13 of 
the elected 266-seat National Assembly still to be announced.

Minor parties shared 27 seats between them -- including the Muttahida Qaumi 
Movement (MQM), which took 17 -- which are likely to be of great interest to 
PTI in the coming days.

If PTI's independents join one of them, they can take a share of the further 
70 unelected seats reserved for women and religious minorities, which are 
allocated according to party performance in the contested vote.

- 'Recount our votes' -

Most of the seats won by Khan loyalists were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where 
police said at least two PTI supporters were killed Friday and more than 20 
wounded when they protested against alleged vote-rigging in Shangla district 
-- the first serious post-election violence reported.

"Our results have been changed," claimed 28-year-old shopkeeper Muhammad 
Saleem, who joined around 2,000 PTI supporters marching in Peshawar.

"The government should recount all of our votes."

Khan was barred from contesting the election after being handed several 
lengthy prison sentences in the days leading up to the vote.

A nationwide election day mobile telephone blackout and the slow counting of 
results led to suspicions the military establishment was influencing the 
process to ensure Sharif's success.

"PTI as a party and political group, despite significant efforts by the 
civilian and military establishment, has held on to its vote bank," said 
Bilal Gilani, executive director of polling group Gallup Pakistan.

"It shows that the military does not always get their way -- that is the 
silver lining," he told AFP.

The PPP, whose popularity is largely limited to its Sindh heartland, also did 
better than expected.

The PML-N and PPP joined forces with minor parties to boot Khan from office 
in April 2022 after his PTI won a slender majority in the 2018 election.

The former international cricketer then waged an unprecedented campaign of 
defiance against the military-led establishment, which originally backed his 
rise to power.

Khan was convicted last week of treason, graft and having an un-Islamic 
marriage in three separate trials -- among nearly 200 cases brought against 
him since being ousted.

Britain said it noted "serious concerns" about the election, while the United 
States said that "claims of interference or fraud should be fully 
investigated".

The Free and Fair Election Network gave the election commission a generally 
positive report card for how it conducted the vote, but said the delay in 
announcing results "overshadowed an otherwise orderly election", raising 
questions about the outcome.