Former prime minister Imran Khan has nominated Omar Ayub Khan, the general secretary of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party as the candidate for the post of prime minister, PTI leader Asad Qaiser said on Thursday.
Independent candidates backed by jailed former premier Imran Khan have won 93 seats in last week’s election, making them the largest group in the National Assembly. However, they cannot form a government on their own, having run as individuals and not a party. This also means they are not entitled to reserved seats for minorities and women in the assembly, diminishing their chances to from the government at the center.
“Omar Ayub has been appointed as the prime minister candidate by Khan,” Qaiser told reporters outside Rawalpindi’s central jail after meeting the jailed Khan. “We hope that the PM will be ours, and Omar Ayub will be our representative.”
Qaiser alleged that national elections on Feb. 8 were heavily rigged, adding that Khan would announce a date for nationwide protests by evening today, Thursday.
“Even a child is aware of how our mandate was stolen,” Qaiser said. “So on that matter, Khan will announce a date for a countrywide protest movement where we will take out rallies and protest in different provinces, districts and tehsil headquarters in the country.”
He said Khan had tasked him to engage with various political parties protesting against alleged rigging to formulate a joint strategy in this regard, saying that the recently held polls were the “worst elections in Pakistan’s history.”
“This election is neither being accepted in Pakistan by anyone, neither does it have any credibility, nor is anyone internationally taking it seriously or considering it,” he said.
The Feb. 8 elections polls were marred by a mobile Internet shutdown and unusually delayed results, leading to accusations that they were rigged and drawing concern from rights groups and foreign governments. Several political parties and candidates have held protests against the results and Khan’s PTI has challenged many of the results in court.
The Pakistani government says the measures were taken as the run-up to elections was marred by attacks on rallies, election offices and candidates. Twenty-eight people were killed in a number of attacks in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces bordering Afghanistan on election eve.
Pakistan’s election regulator has strongly denied allegations it rigged the polls, saying on Monday that delays in poll results were due to the nationwide suspension of mobile phone networks and other logistical issues.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, announced on Tuesday that his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif would be the coalition’s prime minister candidate instead of him. The younger Sharif has the backing of five other political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Quami Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), making him the strongest candidate for the prime minister’s post.
The PML-N emerged as the largest party in parliament with 75 seats following the Feb. 8 elections, while the PPP as the second largest with 54. PPP has backed Shehbaz as the choice for PM but has as yet not committed to joining the government, indicating it would support a minority government from the outside.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday named Shehbaz Sharif as its candidate for prime minister's office.
Reports suggest PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz will be the candidate for Punjab chief minister's office.
The final announcement about the person picked as unanimous candidate for prime minister's office will be made after discussions among the allied parties.
Nawaz Sharif has given his approval for the names of both Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz.
In a related development, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif expressed gratitude to former president Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for announcing support to the former's party.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the former premier said that he had held a telephonic conversation with Zardari and Bilawal.
"I have thanked them [Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto] on behalf of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif for announcing their support to the PML-N," he said.
"Hopefully, we [PML-N, PPP] will manage to steer the country out of the political and economic crises together.
