The Pakistan Muslim League (PML), led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, appeared to be heading for a landslide victory in Pakistan’s parliamentary elections.
The election commission gave the conservative PML 97 seats out of the 132 so far counted.
Long before the last votes were counted, Muslim League supporters took to the streets in celebration.
The final result has not yet been declared, but a confident Sharif asked his supporters in Lahore to pray for what now seems a certain victory.
He says that the success of the Muslim League is unprecedented in Pakistan’s history.
SOUNDBITE: (Urdu)
“Our mothers sisters and brothers have made the Muslim League victorious in a way which has no parallel in Pakistan’s history”
SUPERCAPTION: Nawaz Sharif, Leader of the Muslim League
As his supporters sang songs of victory, Sharif hailed the results showing election success throughout the country.
SOUNDBITE: (Urdu)
“It is not just from Lahore, but from all over Pakistan that good news is coming in”
SUPERCAPTION: Nawaz Sharif, Leader of the Muslim League
The large swing towards the PML signals the failure of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in her re-election bid.
But she has already indicated that she may reject the results and boycott national and provincial assemblies.
Overseas observers, meanwhile, have said they’re satisfied that all those who wanted to vote were able to do so.
But head of the overseeing team, Malcolm Fraser, said low voter turnout was a message to political parties after the dismissal of three governments in eight years.
He said that a turnout of 20 percent was symptomatic of deep failures within the political system.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
“Only a short time ago, one major party suggested to me that the turnout would be as low as 20 percent, which would be about half the turnout of previous, of the last Pakistan elections. That turnout seems to me to send a very clear message to all participants in the political process. In the past eight years three elected governments have been dismissed by the president, It is clear that public respect for political parties has plummeted and democratic government greatly discredited.”
SUPER CAPTION: Malcolm Fraser, leader of Commonwealth team of observers
Pakistani voters were choosing members of the lower house of parliament and of the country’s four provincial legislatures.
The head of the party that wins control of the National Assembly, alone or with coalition partners, will be Prime Minister and expected to serve a five-year term.
But none of the recent Prime Ministers have managed to serve the full period of office.
When the euphoria has died down, international observers hope that Sharif will begin to tackle the endemic corruption, and restore some faith in the political system.
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