US President Barack Obama has congratulated Pakistan on successful elections that were held on Saturday with the win of former leader. Nawaz Sharif was toppled from his rule in Pakistan in 1999. He was jailed and exiled. He may not need to form a coalition with main rivals, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI).
Sharif, who has made his fortune in steel managed to hold off Imran Khan of PTI. For decades, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) led by Sharif and the PPP of the Bhutto family have worked together to form a government in Pakistan when civilian rule was possible. And now he seems capable of forming a government that has the ability to implement reforms in order to rescue the economy.
Election results
The results were declared on Sunday Evening, revealing that the PML-N won 94 out of 272 seats in the Pakistani National Assembly. The PTI won 21 seats while the PPP is in third place with 19. Should the current trend hold the PML-N would likely get 130 seats total and might even reach the needed 137 for a majority rule though it might require the support of small political parties. Sharif’s party would be given 70 more seats in Parliament that are allocated for non-Muslim minorities and women.
The days running up to Election Day was marred by violence with at least 40 people killed. Islamist militants attempted to block the voting public from exercising their right of suffrage. The Taliban even threatened to execute suicide attacks. However, despite these efforts, the voter turnout was 60% which is an improvement from the 44% turnout of the previous election in 2008.
A mess to clean up
Sharif is now faced with what he himself has called, “a mess.” Pakistan is riddled with corruption, power cuts, militant violence and infrastructure issues. Observers and analysts said that the former prime minister is changed from his troubled rule in the 1990s. Cyril Almeida, a political analyst declares that Sharif seems to have a clear grasp of the direction that he would be leading Pakistan to. Observers further add that Sharif would have “few excuses for failure” particularly on terrorism and economy because he will get the majority of seats in Parliament.
This time, Sharif would still have to work with generals who have laid down the security and foreign policy of Pakistan. And Sharif would have to establish a less thorny partnership with the United States at this critical time when NATO forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan next year.
Call for action
Sharif has called out for cooperation in a speech made at his party headquarters in Lahore. Now that he is once more the leader of Pakistan, Sharif called for all the political parties in the country to “come to the table” and solve the problems with of the country along with him. He invited the party members to “thank Allah” for giving the PML-N one more opportunity to serve Pakistan and its citizens.
Photo Credit: Nawaz Sharif
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