Post date: May 20, 2013 11:31:52 AM
Cricket hero Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf party wins a revote in Karachi, unofficial results show, a day after gunmen killed a party leader, setting the stage for protests.
KARACHI, PAKISTAN (MAY 20, 2013) (GEO TV) - Unofficial final results showed on Monday (May 20) that the cricket hero Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf party won a re-vote in an upmarket constituency of Karachi the previous day.
The win came a day after gunmen killed a party leader on Saturday (May 18), setting the stage for protests and counter-protests.
Khan blamed the killing of Zara Shahid Hussain on the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party, which has a stranglehold on the city.Furious MQM leaders denied responsibility, condemned the killing and demanded a retraction from Khan.
The attack in the upscale Defence area, the family neighbourhood of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, capped a bloody election campaign in which around 150 people were killed nationwide.
Both the MQM, angry at the accusations, and the PTI have called for protests on Monday which often turn violent in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city.
Karachi generates around half of the government's revenue and stability in the city is key to stability of the whole country.
Khan's sister Aleema Khan, who arrived in Karachi to attend the third day of mourning for slain PTI leader Zahra Shahid Hussain, said threats would not deter Khan's supporters.
"Since one week, people have shown that you can't stop them from coming out of their homes by threatening them. If they have come out, it will be difficult to send them home," she told reporters.
The May 11 general elections handed a landslide victory to opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and hisPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Imran's campaign electrified many Pakistanis, pushing the PTI from a marginal party to Pakistan's third largest.
But results from a handful of constituencies across the country are still uncertain amid accusations of vote-rigging. There is re-polling in a few others where security issues prevented voting.
Last week's election gave the MQM 18 of 19 national assembly seats in Karachi. Now the PTI has one seat, according to unofficial results.
Sunday's (May 19) voting took place at 43 polling stations across the constituency and, for the first time, each ballot box was guarded by a ranger and a soldier inside the booth instead of outside.
"I have come to know that Imran Khan has won. Though I am not his supporter, since the election were held under army vigilance, we approve the results," said a local company employee, Saeeduddin.
But salesman Mohammad Shahid said the revote was one sided because at least two major parties boycotted it.
"You can call it selection and not election because most of the people supporting one party voted. It would have been very sensational if some parties did not boycott," he said.
Pakistans Peoples Party, Muttahida Quami Movement and Majlis Wahdat ul Muslimeen boycotted the re-poll.
The MQM, a secular party, is locked in a battle with various rival contenders for influence in Karachi, including Pakistan's Taliban movement, which has sought to gain a foothold in various districts on the outskirts of the city in recent years.