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Islamabad

- “Tomorrow Imran Khan will win.” This is what many Pakistanis who Al Jazeera Net met in the capital, especially the young ones, insist on saying. This is what surprised us. How will the man win when he has been in prison since last August and was sentenced to three sentences last week? He was imprisoned for the first 10 years, the second for 14 years, and the third for 7 years, preventing him from running in the elections and banning his party, the PTI.

Merchant Mirza Naveed Beg (44 years old) - whom Al Jazeera Net met at Islamabad airport returning from South Africa - says that he came specifically to participate in the elections that began today and to urge his family, relatives and those he knows to participate en masse in the elections in favor of Imran Khan and his “oppressed” party.

Advertisements for a number of candidates for the general elections in the Pakistani capital (Al Jazeera Net)

This is what the two young men, Muhammad Jamal and Zahid Ali, who also returned to the country, went to, and we met them at Islamabad airport, and elsewhere, with the aim of participating in these elections and voting for Imran Khan, as they said.

We were surprised by the enthusiasm and insistence of many people to participate in the elections, and in favor of Imran Khan, who is in prison.

We asked Mirza Naveed how Imran Khan will win the elections while he is detained and his party has been banned. He said that he and millions of others believe in his ideas and the ideas of this party, and that Imran Khan’s calls will be answered in his detention to participate extensively in the elections with the aim of removing the injustice that befell their leader and other leaders in the PTI. .

Imran Khan addressed the voters in a statement published a few days ago on his account on the X platform: “You must avenge every injustice by voting on February 8th. Tell them that you are not sheep that can be directed with a stick.”

Election propaganda for Shaheen, a supporter of Imran Khan, on a street in Islamabad (Al Jazeera Net)

Imran Khan's picture is present

Despite being banned from running, the pictures of many candidates place the picture of Imran Khan next to their pictures in electoral advertisements to demonstrate their affiliation with the PTI, despite the fact that each candidate adopts a slogan that is different from the other, after the authorities banned the strike slogan, which the PTI had used as its slogan in the previous elections. .

When the elections began on Thursday morning, we met voter Muhammad Shahroz Khan at one of the polling stations, to whom would he give his vote? He answered enthusiastically, “Of course I elected Muhammad Shoaib Shaheen, because he is a follower of Imran Khan.”

Shahroz confirmed that Imran Khan enjoys wide popularity among Pakistanis, whether in the capital or in other regions, expecting those who follow Imran Khan to win a clear victory in the current elections.

Muhammad Zahid also agreed with Shahroz and expressed his support for Imran Khan and everyone who follows him.

Shahroz, one of Imran Khan’s supporters (Al Jazeera Net)

Use of social networking

The PTI party is superior to other competing parties in using social media, which it is believed to have excelled in using in 2018 and qualified it to win the elections at that time.

One of the movement's cadres says that they have created an online portal that enables users to enter the electoral district number and thus identify them with the candidate's name and symbol, in an attempt to circumvent the authorities' action to ban the party's official name and striking logo.

Other activists in the party mentioned using the WhatsApp application to organize their affairs, introduce the party’s candidates, and arrange procedures to ensure that the party gets the highest votes.

One of the polling stations in Islamabad (Al Jazeera Net)

behind bars

Imran Khan was accused of buying numerous gifts from rulers and government officials and reselling them for an undisclosed profit. The court imposed a fine of millions in addition to a prison sentence on his wife, Bushra Bibi. The special court - which was held in the prison where he has been held since his previous conviction - did not give him any opportunity to defend himself. He himself was not present during the sentencing.

Observers consider that the timing of the ruling is not innocent, as it comes a few days before the elections, with the aim of removing him from the ballot boxes and discrediting him and his party. They also believe that all of this comes under the direction of the army, the most powerful institution in the state.

The army and elections

At the beginning of his work as Prime Minister in 2018, Imran Khan enjoyed the support of the army and the intelligence services, but his reduction of the defense budget while he was in power, and his attempt to prove his independence from the military, led to them turning away from his support.

In the 2018 elections, the PTI, led by Imran Khan, won 115 seats in the National Parliament (National Assembly) out of 272, inflicting a severe defeat on the leaders of traditional political parties, especially the People’s Party and the Muslim League.

During his political career, Imran Khan raised the slogan of combating rampant corruption in the country, as a way to win his fans and attract those dissatisfied with political parties and traditional feudal families, such as the Sharif family in Punjab and the Bhutto family in Sindh.

When he became Prime Minister, Imran Khan was keen to strengthen relations with Beijing and Moscow. He even visited Russia two days after it launched a war on Ukraine, then rejected America’s demand to vote to condemn Moscow at the United Nations. He repeatedly criticized the American attacks directed against Islamic militants in Pakistan, considering them a violation of his country's sovereignty.

In contradiction to Washington's approach, Imran Khan was known for his support for the Afghan Taliban movement, and he also celebrated the exit of American forces from Afghanistan in August 2021. This was one of the factors that led to a worsening of relations with Washington, which is believed to have encouraged his overthrow.

Announcing one of the candidates supporting Imran Khan: “Revenge against oppression by voting” (French)

Elections amid tensions

Since eight in the morning (Pakistan time), tens of millions of voters today began casting their votes to choose representatives of the federal parliament, in addition to members of regional parliaments.

These elections are taking place against the backdrop of security and political tensions, and are expected to lead to the return of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to head the government for a fourth term.

More than 128 million voters are entitled to participate in the 12 general parliamentary elections, and the next government will be formed by the party that receives the support of two-thirds of the representatives.

About 90,000 polling stations opened their doors to voters, while the Ministry of Interior announced a “temporary suspension of mobile phone services” throughout the country throughout the election day, and blocked Internet service in many areas, citing security reasons.

The country is on high alert amid the deployment of the army to polling stations, and tens of thousands of troops and paramilitary personnel have been deployed across Pakistan. The country also announced that it closed its borders for security reasons.

The unofficial preliminary results are expected to appear a few hours after voting closes at 5 p.m. local time, and the picture is likely to become clearer early tomorrow.

The past few days have witnessed the killing of more than 40 people and the injury of dozens of others in several election-related incidents and bombings, especially in Balochistan and Khyber provinces.

With a population of about 250 million, Pakistan is considered the fifth largest country in terms of population.

Source: Al Jazeera