The results seem to have yielded a victory for the PTI, but that party’s Chairman does not seem satisfied. Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, who has won his own seat from Buner and is functioning as the leader of the PTI though the ECP has ruled his election illegal, has alleged widespread rigging, and claims that his party has won upward of 130 seats in the National Assembly. Clearly, the PTI now wants imprisoned founder-chairman Imran Khan released as soon as possible, but there are still legal hurdles. On Saturday, the Indictment against him and his wife Bushra Bibi in the Al-Qadir Trust case was not presented, and postponed to Tuesday. His also obtained bail in 12 cases from an Anti-Terrorist Court on charges involving the May 9 attacks on military installations. However, he remains in jail as a convict in three separate cases: the cipher case, the Toshakhana case and the alienation of affections case filed by Bushra Bibi’s first husband.
Once he has these convictions thrown out, he will then have to find a seat from which to be elected. That will probably be easy, but until that is done, the PTI must select someone to ‘warm the seat’ of the PM. The PTI also has to find a CM for KP, as well as one for Punjab, if the party is serious about staking a claim there. More important than any of these, it must ensure that the MNAs-elect and MPAs-elect remain loyal, because it should be remembered that theory are independent, and thus freer agents than if they were bound by party discipline.
However, all this is speculative. The PTI has emerged as the largest group in three assemblies, but in two, Punjab and the National Assembly, it needs the support of other parties to form governments. It is here that the PTI itself may have painted itself into a corner by its past rhetoric, for it could have exchanged PPP support for it in Punjab and the centre for its own support to PPP ch-Chairman’s presidential re-election bid. After all, the PPP has its own reasons for keeping the PML(N) out of office in Punjab. However, the PML(N) has begun the efforts at coalition building, having made contact with Mr Zardari and touched base with the MQM. However, in the frenzy of government formation, while personal ambitions seem paramount, there already seems no consideration of the economic crisis that must be tackled.
