Massive delays in counting and allegations of rigging dominated the early hours of Thursday in Pakistan, where official poll results were still awaited even 15 hours after voting ended.

Preliminary results indicate Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has obtained a clear edge over other parties with 119 in their kitty as unofficial results continue to pour in.

Although PTI workers and supporters started celebrations before the final results, no statement — or even a tweet — has been issued by the former cricket himself on the victory.

His spokesperson Naeemul Haque, however, tweeted that the PTI chief will “address the nation” at 2 p.m. “in celebration and recognition of the massive support received from the people of Pakistan in the 2018 elections which was a contest between the forces of good and evil”.

In Punjab, with preliminary results from 50 percent polling stations available with ECP, PML-N is currently holding its lead on 129 provincial seats but PTI is closing in with a lead on 122 seats.

Imran Khan’s party is clearly steering ahead in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with a lead on 64 seats against Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which is currently leading on 12 seats, as per reports from 35 percent polling stations in the province.

The preliminary results from 37 percent polling stations in Sindh show PPP-P leading on 75 seats, followed by PTI on 22 seats.

In Balochistan, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) is leading on 12 provincial seats, followed by Balochistan National Party (BNP) on nine seats, based on unofficial results from 35 percent polling stations.

According to Geo News, Awami National Party leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour conceded defeat to PTI’s Shaukat Ali, his competitor on Peshawar’s NA-31 seat, saying: “The results indicate that Imran Khan is a favourite leader of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. I am a democratic person and I admit the defeat.”

Counting is still going on at the polling stations of different constituencies.

According to PTV news, Imran Khan has maintained a massive lead over PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in Islamabad constituency. The PTI chief was pitted against former Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the crucial National Assembly seat.

The voter turnout was recorded at 50-55 percent of the nearly 106 million electorates, similar to the previous electoral contest in 2013.

Television visuals showed election workers sorting through massive piles of paper ballots at polling stations across the country.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif at a mid-vote count press conference said his party rejects the poll results.

In a tweet, he said the party had rejected the results “due to manifest and massive irregularities”.

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also said he had not received any official results from any constituency where he was contesting, despite it being past midnight.

“My candidates (have been) complaining (that) polling agents have been thrown out of polling stations across the country. Inexcusable and outrageous,” he tweeted.

A delay has been reported in the transmission of election results due to the breaking down of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s Results Transmission System (RTS), which is being run through a software powered by National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

The Election Commission’s secretary Babar Yaqoob flatly denied allegations of vote count manipulation.

Shortly before Sharif spoke, state television said that just one-fifth of the votes had been counted so far — an unusually slow count that further fuelled suspicion of rigging.

Yaqoob said the vote-counting system, which was untested, had “crashed”, adding: “There is definitely no conspiracy, no one wants to influence the results”.

A single party will need to bag at least 137 of the directly elected seats to be able to form the government on its own.

As many as 12,570 candidates were in the electoral fray for a total of 849 seats of national and provincial assemblies in the country’s 11th general election.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that he is committed to working with the Congress on a new Russia sanctions bill after he issued a “Crimea Declaration” that rejected Russia’s control of Crimea.

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pompeo on Wednesday said that he will support the bill to hold Russia accountable for its behaviours around the globe.

He confirmed the necessity to raise the cost of Moscow’s alleged malpractice “if we can find the right places and the right leverage point”, Xinhua news agency reported.

Saying that sanctions focusing more on Russian individuals and oligarchs are necessary, Pompeo noted: “that the things that impact the Russian economy are the things that I hear the Russians are most concerned about.”

He also said that Washington does not and will not recognize the Kremlin’s control of Crimea.

“There will be no relief of Crimea-related sanctions until Russia returns control of the Crimean Peninsula to Ukraine,” he said, noting the US stance regarding Crimea is a “policy of nonrecognition”.

Citing the 213 sanctions on Russian entities and individuals since the Trump administration assumed office, Pompeo said “with respect to Russia, this administration has been tougher than previous administrations, and I fully expect it will”.

“The President… will be their toughest enemy, most difficult enemy,” he said.

The relations between Washington and Moscow have been strained over Ukraine, Syria, Iran, the poison attack of an ex-Russian spy in Britain, and Russia’s alleged meddling in US 2016 elections.

The two nations’ presidents met earlier this month in Finland. However, due to the wide backlash inside the US over President Donald Trump’s remarks there, the White House announced earlier on Wednesday that the next meeting between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will be delayed till next year.

In the Crimea Declaration, Pompeo said “the US reaffirms as policy its refusal to recognize the Kremlin’s claims of sovereignty over” Crimea.

Russia was expelled from the Group of Eight in 2014 and has since then endured sanctions of the West for its incorporation of Crimea.

Twenty-one Indian-origin persons have been sentenced here to up to 20 years for their role in a massive India-based call centre scam which defrauded thousands of US residents of hundreds of millions of dollars, the Justice Department said.

The sentences which range from 4 years to 20 years were announced earlier this week, the department said in a press release on Friday.

“The stiff sentences imposed this week represent the culmination of the first-ever large scale, multi-jurisdiction prosecution targeting the India call center scam industry,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“This case represents one of the most significant victories to date in our continuing efforts to combat elder fraud and the victimization of the most vulnerable members of the US public.

“The transnational criminal ring of fraudsters and money launderers who conspired to bilk older Americans, legal immigrants and many others out of their life savings, must recognize that all resources will be deployed to shut down these telefraud schemes, put those responsible in jail and bring a measure of justice to the victims,” Sessions said.

According to various admissions made in connection with the defendants’ guilty pleas, between 2012 and 2016, the defendants and their conspirators perpetrated a complex fraud and money laundering scheme in which individuals from call centres located in Ahmedabad frequently impersonated officials from the federal tax agency, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or US Citizenship and Immigration Services in a ruse designed to defraud victims located throughout the US.

Using information obtained from data brokers and other sources, the accused targeted the US victims who were threatened with arrest, imprisonment, fines or deportation if they did not pay alleged monies owed to the government.

Victims who agreed to pay the scammers were instructed how to provide payment, including by purchasing stored value cards or wiring money. Upon payment, the call centres would immediately turn to a network of “runners” based in the US to liquidate and launder the fraudulently obtained funds.

For their services, the runners would earn a specific fee or a percentage of the funds. Runners also received victims’ funds via wire transfers, which were retrieved under fake names and through the use of using false identification documents, direct bank deposits by victims or other gift cards that victims purchased.

Three other conspirators were sentenced earlier this year for laundering proceeds for the conspiracy.

Twenty-two of the accused were held jointly and severally liable for restitution of $8,970,396 payable to identified victims of their crimes. Additionally, the court entered individual preliminary orders of forfeiture against the defendants for assets that were seized in the case, and money judgments totalling over $72,942,300.

The indictment in the case also charged 32 India-based conspirators and five India-based call centres with general conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. These defendants are yet to be arraigned in the case.

As many as 38 people were killed and 37 wounded in a series of bombings and attacks in Syria’s Sweida province on Wednesday, authorities said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said suicide bombers from the Islamic State (IS) detonated bomb vests and explosive devices in Sweida city in tandem with an attack by this terror-designated group on towns in the eastern countryside of Sweida on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

Three suicide bombers set off their bomb vests near the grocery market and the roundabouts of Mashnaqa and Najmeh in Sweida city, the Observatory said, adding that explosive devices were detonated in the same areas.

In the northeastern countryside of Sweida, where the Syrian warplanes are taking part in striking the IS fighters, the IS militants launched attacks on several towns amid confrontation between the Syrian army and the IS militants.

Meanwhile, a medical source inside the city said that over 30 people were killed in the attacks, adding that the wounded are being taken to the national hospital in the city.

Another explosion took place in the Maslakh area in the city.

The Election Commission on Wednesday took notice of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif delivering speeches after casting their votes in the 11th general elections, which it termed as “violation of the code of conduct”.

The poll panel spokesperson Nadeem Qasim told Express News that actions may be taken against politicians who delivered speeches and those who voted on-camera with their every move being monitored.

Qasim said that the vote might not be endangered, but the voter may face consequences as per the Election Commission’s law. The electoral body also directed media channels to not air live media talks of candidates as long as polling was underway.

The poll body also took notice of PML-N leader and former Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif’s press talk after casting his vote in Sialkot.

A day earlier, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority issued show-cause notices to several news channels for inviting candidates on their live election transmissions.

The representatives of the channels were directed to file written replies as well as appear for personal hearings on July 31.

Six persons, including a political worker, were killed and several injured on Wednesday in sporadic incidents of violence as millions of voters queued up outside polling stations across Pakistan to elect a new government.

While polling stations officially opened for voting at 8 a.m., enthusiastic citizens queued up outside their respective stations as early as 7 a.m, Dawn News website said. Polling stations will remain open for voting till 6 p.m. and counting is being done simultaneously.

Results are expected to trickle in immediately after the polling ends with the final outcome likely by Thursday morning or afternoon, according to election officials.

The website reported that five people were killed and 12 injured in a blast that took place in Quetta. Polling was underway at a school nearby, when a police van was targeted in the attack, it said.

A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker was killed and two others injured as party activists clashed with Awami National Party (ANP) workers outside a polling station in Nawan Kali in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Swabi.

The workers of the two parties clashed in Mardan as well. Several people have been injured in the firing incident. Following the clash, police took control of the affected area, the Dawn reported.

Two people were also injured in a firing incident in Dera Murad Jamali in Balochistan.

In a separate incident, four people were injured in a blast outside a political camp in Larkana, in Sindh province, the home of the Bhutto family, reported Express Tribune.

Independent candidate Jibran Nasir said that Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan supporters attacked a facilitation camp he had set up in Chandio Village in Karachi.

As many as 12,570 candidates are contesting for a total of 849 seats of national and provincial assemblies in the general election. Nearly 106 million people are eligible to vote.

The battle is set to come down to three parties: Shahbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Imran Khan’s PTI.

In an effort to increase voter participation the Election Commission of Pakistan has declared a public holiday on Wednesday.

Prominent people who cast their votes include former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Mustafa Kamal and chief of the Pak Sarzameen Party.

Over four lakh security personnel has been deployed at polling stations across the country to maintain law and order and take action against harassment, after the nation witnessed one of the bloodiest campaignings on July 13.

According to a poll official, 5,878 polling stations have been declared “highly sensitive” — official euphemism to mean they are prone to violence — in Sindh; 5,487 in Punjab and Islamabad; 3,874 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA and 1,768 in Balochistan.

According to the reports, women voters were being denied the right to vote in a PK-65 constituency of Nowshehra in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Geo TV said a suspicious person was detained when he tried to enter Karachi’s Lyari Bihar Colony polling station in NA-246, claiming to be a police officer.

“The suspicious person has been taken to Chakewara Police Station,” a police officer said, adding that the polling process was halted for about 20 minutes.

The elections are being held as emotions run over a graft case that led to the imprisonment of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam.

Sharif’s PML-N has condemned the legal cases facing its members and reported pressures to leave the party along with harassment to prevent it from returning to power after its absolute majority in 2013.

These elections are the second in Pakistan’s history in which a government was able to complete its term to make way for another government after being ruled by military dictators for half of the 71 years of its existence since its founding in 1947.

Driving through the flooded rice paddies of the eastern Pakistani district of Narowal, the sunlight streaming in through the monsoon clouds, Ahsan Iqbal is in turns confident and concerned.

He steps off his bulletproof pick-up truck and is immediately surrounded by well-wishers showering him with rose petals and placing colourful garlands around his neck.

Armed bodyguards form a ring around him as he walks towards a large tent, where a couple of hundred people have been waiting all day to hear him speak.

Ahead of him, some children lead the way, happily chanting the slogan of Iqbal’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) political party, and dancing to the beat of a dhol.

“Look who’s come, it’s the lion, it’s the lion,” they sing, a reference to the party’s election symbol.

If massive political rallies, attended by tens of thousands and addressed by party chiefs, are the muscles that power electoral campaigning in Pakistan, then “corner meetings” such as this one, under a small tent in a rice field in the middle of nowhere, are its heart and soul.

Pakistan goes to the polls on Wednesday, and if the PML-N is to fight off the challenge from the opposition PTI, the contest will be decided in constituencies such as this one, in the heart of Punjab province, where 141 of the 272 national parliamentary seats that are up for grabs are located.

Iqbal begins his stump speech, one he has repeated dozens of times.

He lists the achievements of his party’s last five years in power, pointing out his opponent’s relative lack of experience, and drawing attention towards his work in the constituency.

“You now sleep in comfort under a fan,” he says, referring to reduced electricity blackouts, “but the leader who gave you this has no comfort in jail.”

Nawaz Sharif, the chief of the PML-N, and his daughter Maryam Nawaz were jailed earlier this month after being convicted by an anti-corruption court.

His party says he received an unfair trial and alleges the country’s powerful military – which has ruled Pakistan for roughly half its 70-year history – pressured the judiciary to convict him. Both institutions deny the charge.

“You have a debt to him, to release him from jail through the power of your vote,” Iqbal continues.

Nearby, a young man on a tractor looks on impassively.

Away from the crowds, Iqbal strikes a different note.

This has been no ordinary campaign, with widespread allegations that the military has been “engineering” the electoral process, and encouraging PML-N supporters and candidates to switch loyalties.

Political news coverage has also been tightly controlled, with the country’s two largest news organizations seeing their distribution networks disrupted when they refused to follow the military’s editorial guidelines.

“Our hope is that we get a high turnout on voting day so that we have a margin of victory that is too large to manipulate,” Iqbal told Al Jazeera.

Countrywide, dozens of PML-N candidates switched parties to the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, weeks ahead of the polls.

In Narowal, two key PML-N candidates defected.

The party’s opponents dismiss allegations of rigging.

“Honestly, I’m still waiting for the aliens,” says Abrar-ul-Haq, the PTI’s candidate against Iqbal in Narowal, using a euphemism for the military popularised by PML-N chief Sharif.

“It has been much better than the last elections,” says ul-Haq, a pop star-turned-politician, about his experience on the campaign trail. “We’ve had huge rallies, boiling with enthusiasm, especially from the youth.”

In 2013, Haq lost the race in this constituency to Iqbal by a margin of more than 27 percent of the 154,637 votes polled.

This time, he is confident that he will win more support, having engaged more heavily with local kinship group leaders, who control thousands of votes in rural constituencies such as Narowal.

“Last time we only concentrated on big political rallies, but this time we have spoken to a lot of the [village and kinship leaders] as well, and many of them have switched their votes to us,” says Naeem Ahmed, an official with Haq’s campaign.

“In local politics, we cannot ignore those blocks of votes, those biraderis [kinship groups], that were with the PML-N last time, they are now with the PTI,” says Haq.

Iqbal, meanwhile, appears to be preaching a post-biraderi brand of politics, campaigning mainly on service delivery rather than engaging with influential locals.

The PML-N has led the government in Punjab for a decade, and socioeconomic indicators have shown improvement during their reign.

“I am going direct to the people,” he says, en route to another corner meeting. “Citizens are now empowered and informed, and they prefer candidates to come to them directly.”

Dangerous games

Narowal may be a sleepy town on the edges of Pakistan’s mainstream, but there is a dangerous edge to the campaign here, one that is being replicated across the country.

In May, Iqbal was shot while at a campaign event, the bullet shattering his elbow and lodging in his stomach.

The attacker accused Iqbal of having committed blasphemy by supporting a minor change to an electoral oath pushed through parliament by the PML-N last year.

That shooting came after supporters of the far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party had blockaded the Pakistani capital for weeks over the issue, finally dispersing only after securing the resignation of a federal minister and legal immunity for damage caused during the rioting.

Haq, Iqbal’s opponent, has frequently repeated the blasphemy allegations at political rallies.

Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan. At least 74 people have been murdered in connection with accusations of the crime since 1990, according to an Al Jazeera tally.

In Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi, Jibran Nasir, an independent candidate, has faced a series of attacks by charged TLP members, also accusing him of blasphemy.

“[Haq’s] main argument is inciting hatred against me on religious grounds,” says Iqbal, gesturing towards a dozen armed guards in two police escort vehicles. “It does restrict you […] but at the same time, you also have to take risk. Because politics, or public life, cannot be done from behind a curtain.”

Asked if he believes it is dangerous to accuse Iqbal of having committed blasphemy, Haq is nonchalant.

“As far as it being dangerous is concerned, well in Pakistan it is also dangerous to walk down the street,” says the PTI candidate.

Battle for the crown

The streets of Lahore are a couple of hours from Narowal, but the differences are stark.

Sharif may be in jail, but in Lahore, he is everywhere. Banners across the city repeat his rallying cry: “Give honour to the vote.”

In the narrow, congested lanes of Gulshan-e-Ravi, PTI candidate Yasmin Rashid is conducting her own corner meetings, despite the rain.

Her supporters blast the Sharif family and their alleged corruption, as she smiles and waves from underneath an umbrella.

Rashid is attempting to do what many believed, up until a few months ago, to be impossible: to win Lahore’s historic NA-125 seat, in the heart of the provincial capital, from the PML-N.

The incumbent party has never lost this seat, the jewel in its crown of dominance over Punjab province over the last three decades.

“Imran Khan has worked constantly for 22 years … he says that until there is justice in Pakistan, he will not stop,” she says, as the crowd calls out: “The PTI is coming, the PTI is coming.”

Rashid’s message focuses on the corruption convictions against the Sharifs, while she promises honest, efficient government.

“You can feel the pulse is different, and now the majority of them are convinced that Nawaz Sharif has been convicted correctly,” she tells Al Jazeera.

Rashid’s chances – and those of the PTI across this province – will hinge on how many PML-N voters she is able to convert.

“Ever since we were young, we have always voted for the PML-N,” says Muhammad Rizwan, 32, a participant at the PTI meeting. “But just look at the state of these streets.”

The PML-N “have changed nothing” and he will vote for the PTI, he says.

Others, however, are unmoved by the PTI’s promises to use their electoral symbol, a cricket bat, to strike corruption out of the arena.

“I will vote for the PML-N, as I always have,” says Muhammad Siddiq, a 62-year-old who sells vegetables on a pushcart.

His wife, Nadira, interjects.

“Look, whoever wins, whether it’s the lion or the bat, the truth is that we’re still going to be out on the street, pushing that cart.”

One of US President Donald Trump’s former foreign policy aides has said allegations that he worked with the Russian government during the 2016 US election are “misleading”.

The FBI believed Carter Page was “collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government” at that time, BBC reported on Sunday.

His alleged relationships with Russian intelligence officials are highlighted in court applications which led to him being put under surveillance.

Trump said it appeared that his campaign was illegally spied on. But he provided no evidence to support the claim.

The newly released surveillance applications were granted and renewed by several different judges sitting in a court authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The court, which has the power to authorize wiretaps and surveillance of suspected foreign spies, has one of the most secretive institutions in the US.

The FBI released the previously secret document cache on Saturday night following Freedom of Information requests by several US organisations.

It contains 412 pages of heavily redacted material which includes the surveillance applications, their later renewals, and warrants surrounding the investigation into Mr Page.

“The FBI believes that Page has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government,” the October 2016 application to the court states.

According to the documents, “the FBI believes that the Russian government’s efforts are being co-ordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated with” Mr Trump’s presidential campaign.

It also said Page “has established relationships with Russian government officials, including Russian intelligence officers”.

Page is an energy industry consultant with longstanding ties to Russia. He first contacted the Trump campaign in 2015 before meeting Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, in January 2016.

By March 2016, Trump had identified Page as one of a handful of campaign foreign policy advisers.

Jailed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who has fallen ill and was suffering from heart and kidney ailments, has been asked to be shifted to a hospital by a medical team, a jail official said.

The medical team, led by retired General Azhar Kiani, visited Adiala jail in Rawalpindi on Sunday after Sharif complained, the jail administration official told Dawn newspaper on Monday.

Following his medical check-up, the medical team said that Sharif “needed to be hospitalised for immediate treatment”, he added.

The heartbeat of the former Prime Minister was irregular due to dehydration and the presence of urea in blood might affect his kidneys, the medical team has said.

The medical team’s recommendation had been sent to the Punjab health secretary and the caretaker government, Dawn reported.

“The government will take a decision on it,” he said, adding that the team had been called after the former prime minister complained that he was not feeling well.

The official said that a separate medical team from the district headquarters hospital conducted a medical check-up of Sharif’s jailed son-in-law, retired Captain Muhammad Safdar, as he was suffering from ear and throat infections.

Kiani, the chief executive officer of Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology and former commandant of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, was physician of former President-retired General Pervez Musharraf. He was not available for comments.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter met him for the first time on Thursday after both were arrested last week in a corruption case, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Senator Pervaiz Rasheed said.

Addressing the media outside the Adiala Jail where the three-time Premier, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar Awan are jailed after their conviction in the Avenfield properties case, Rasheed said that he and other party leaders met the Sharif family earlier in the day, Geo News reported.

He said the father-daughter duo met for the first time on Thursday since their arrest, which he said was against jail norms. The senator claimed that the incarcerated Sharif family was in the exact same spirits as they were before being jailed.

Sharing a message from the Sharif family, Rasheed said no jail sentence can stop them from achieving their goal and asked the people to vote for their party in the July 25 general elections.

Sharif was sentenced to 10 years in jail while his daughter received a seven-year term in the London properties case last week. His son-in-law got one-year jail.
[IANS]