ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was ahead by a large margin compared to rival political parties in online searches, according to data from a dedicated election trends search engine launched by Google on Tuesday.
Polls in the economically troubled South Asian country are scheduled to be held on February 8. With less than a month left before millions in Pakistan cast their votes, Google’s dedicated search engine for elections in the country shows key terms being searched. Results can also be filtered by city or region.
“The page has also picked out major political parties and shown which of them is the subject of most search queries,” Google said in a statement. “It has also revealed what people are trying to know about the elections.”
The results have been compiled from online searches in Pakistan for the past 14 days, Google said.
According to figures on the portal on Tuesday evening Khan’s PTI led with 78 percent of total online searches followed by its chief rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with 14 percent online searches.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which has a strong support base in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, and the religious political party, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), each had three percent online searches.
Right-wing political parties, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), Karachi’s Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Awami National Party (ANP), once the ruling party in the country’s northwest, had two percent searches each.
According to Google, search interest in the cost of living reached a 12-year high in Pakistan in 2023. It also said Pakistan was among the top 10 countries searching for foreign policy in 2023.
Despite arguably being the most popular politician in Pakistan, Khan’s prospects for the upcoming elections are poor. The former premier has been in jail since August in a graft case invoking the illegal sale of state gifts during his tenure as prime minister.
Pakistan’s election regulator last year disqualified Khan from contesting polls or holding public officer for five years. Last Saturday, it stripped Khan’s party of its electoral symbol, a cricket bat, meaning the party’s candidates will have to contest as independents and the PTI would be deprived of a share of reserved seats after the elections.
Khan accuses the military, the election commission and Pakistan’s caretaker administration of colluding to keep him and his party out of national polls. All three deny the charge.