Pakistan
’s former ruling party conceded defeat to cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan ahead of final results from the country’s disputed election, which European Union monitors said on Friday had not been fought on a level playing field.
Khan, during a speech declaring victory on Thursday, offered to investigate opposition allegations of vote-rigging and said he wanted to “ unite ” the country under his leadership.
The party of jailed ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif initially rejected the so far incomplete results, but by Friday its leaders appeared to accept that Khan would be the next prime minister.
“We are going to sit on opposition benches, despite all the reservations,” said Hamza Shehbaz Sharif , a parliamentarian and the nephew of Nawaz Sharif, who is in prison after being convicted on corruption charges he disputes.
The allegations of rigging in Wednesday’s election followed a bitter campaign in which Pakistan’s powerful military was accused of tilting the race in favor of Khan and trying to erase democratic gains made since the most recent spell of military rule ended in 2008.
The EU Election Observation Mission , in its preliminary findings, said the electoral process was “not as good” as the 2013 election and campaign week featured a “ lack of equality ” that meant it was not a level playing field for all parties.
“Many of our interlocutors acknowledged a systematic effort to undermine the former ruling party through cases of corruption , contempt of court and t errorist charges against its leaders and candidates,” chief EU observer Michael Gahler told a news conference. The mission included 120 observers who visited 582 polling stations in all the provinces except Baluchistan.
Although Khan appeared likely to fall short of the 137 seats needed for a majority in the National Assembly , his better-than-expected results mean he should have no problems forming a government with a handful of small coalition partners .
Khan’s party also appears to have succeeded in wresting control of the local assembly in Pakistan’s biggest province , Punjab , from the Sharifs.
One of the first tasks for Khan, once he forms the government, will be to avert a currency crisis , following four devaluations of the rupee currency since December, which will likely require Islamabad to seek Pakistan’s second International Monetary Fund bailout since 2013 .
Harder still will be to persuade more people to pay taxes in a nation famous for tax dodging, turn off subsidy taps draining government coffers, and reform loss-making state-run enterprises that past governments have struggled to sell off.
On the campaign trail, Khan has zeroed in on Pakistan’s culture of tax evasion , which is prevalent across South Asia and means only about 1 percent of the population pays income tax.
Increasing that figure would be a major coup for the economy and Khan, who has vowed to reform the Federal Bureau of Revenue ( FBR ) in his first six months in office.
He has also promised to step up an anti-corruption drive , though this risks triggering capital flight in a country where vast wealth is undocumented, analysts say.
Another immediate focus will be on reforming state giants such as Pakistan International Airlines and various power utilities, which the previous government struggled to privatize .
Khan’s reform ambitions
will be boosted by his strong relations with the powerful military and the judiciary’s favorable view of his anti-corruption stance, analysts say.
“Imran Khan is unlikely to be any investor’s top choice to run a country in such a precarious position, but any leader with the ability to form a government and take hard decisions is better than a protracted stalemate,” said Carmen Altenkirch , Emerging Markets Sovereign Analyst at Aviva Investors .
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