(Islamabad) Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, currently imprisoned, on Tuesday ruled out an alliance with the two main rival parties, after the candidates he supported obtained the majority of seats in the last legislative elections.
Imran Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has suffered a relentless crackdown, which has paralyzed its campaign and forced its candidates to run as independents.
But they still came out on top in the legislative election, obtaining around 90 seats out of the 266 up for grabs. They prevented the favorite, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) of Nawaz Sharif, another ex-prime minister, to obtain an absolute majority.
Third place went to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. But in the absence of an absolute majority, the three main blocs must negotiate alliances to form a coalition government.
Speaking on Tuesday inside Adiala prison near Islamabad, where he has been incarcerated almost since his arrest in August, Imran Khan accused the PML-N, which is allegedly backed by the military, of widespread corruption. , and the PPP.
“We will never sit down with the PML-N and the PPP” to discuss a coalition, he told reporters covering a court hearing at the prison.
Multiple suspicions of manipulation accompanied the legislative and provincial elections of February 8, notably due to the cutoff of mobile telephone and internet services on election day, and the slow counting of results.
“We will challenge the election rigging in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and we will think about the alliance later,” added Imran Khan, whose party says it would have won even more seats without the alleged fraud.
The former star cricketer was unable to contest the elections after being sentenced to lengthy prison terms for treason, corruption and un-Islamic marriage just before the vote.
Ousted from the post of prime minister by a motion of no confidence in April 2022, he then directly challenged the army, which ruled the country for decades and was nevertheless presumed to have supported him during his election in 2018.
He accused her of having orchestrated his fall and attributed his legal troubles to her, intended according to him to prevent him from returning to power.
A coalition between the PML-N and the PPP, who governed together after bringing down Imran Khan in 2022 and who began negotiations, remains the most likely outcome.