PESHAWAR: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday recent local government elections were the beginning of introducing a system of transferable power in the country that existed in “successful” democracies, saying this was the first time in the country’s history that it had an “empowered” local government system.
The PM’s comments came as his ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lost a coveted mayoral seat in local elections in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that the party has ruled since 2013.
Local bodies elections were held in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, in what is the first time such polls have been held in areas that used to be part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which were merged with KP in 2018.
In a second phase, local elections will be held in the remaining 18 districts of KP on January 16. Local polls are also planned in the coming months in Pakistan’s other provinces.
“Amidst the noise over KP LG elec, no one realizes these elections are start of modern, devolved LG system as exists in successful democracies. Directly elected Tehsil nazims will improve governance & create future ldrs,” Khan said on Twitter. “Ist time in our 74-yr history we have an empowered LG system.”
A day earlier, Khan had said PTI had paid the price for “mistakes” in recent local elections and he would now personally supervise future strategy for his side’s campaign.
“PTI made mistakes in 1st phase of KP LG elections & paid the price. Wrong candidate selection was a major cause,” Khan said on Twitter. “From now on I will personally be overseeing PTI's LG election strategy in 2nd phase of KP LG elections & LG elections across Pak. InshaAllah PTI will come out stronger.”
Unofficial results of the KP polls, reported by media and local election officials, showed that Zubair Ali, the candidate from the religious political party, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), had won the mayor’s seat in the provincial capital of Peshawar, defeating Rizwan Bangash from the PTI.
Bangash told Arab News on Monday his party would request a recount of both the overall votes as well as those that were rejected due to irregularities.
“We’re optimistic to secure victory because we’re going for a review of 16,000 rejected votes and a recount of overall votes cast in favor of myself and my rival,” Bangash said.
KP spokesman for the JUI-F, Jalil Jan, congratulated the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for having confidence in the party, saying the results “clearly depicted that people are fed up with the way the PTI is ruling the province.”
But a spokesperson for the PTI government in KP rejected the opposition's "narrative" of weak performance being the cause of the party's defeat.
“The opposition’s narrative about our failure has no weight,” Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, the provincial administration’s spokesperson, told Arab News on Tuesday. “I think most of the PTI workers have serious reservations over distribution of tickets, which left the party workers angry and dejected.”
He said nearly 9,000 PTI votes were rejected by the election commission, which reflected that disappointed workers had “intentionally wasted” their votes.
“The party high-ups, including the prime minister, have taken serious notice of the situation that emerged during these elections,” he said. “Things will be investigated through the party’s internal mechanism. In the second phase of the polls, the party’s lawmakers and members will be bound not to give tickets to their relatives.”