Cricket star declares victory in disputed Pakistan election

Cricket star–turned-politician Imran Khan declared victory Thursday morning for his party in Pakistan’s historic elections. He said in a televised address that “thanks to God, we won and we were successful.” The country’s election commission has not yet released official results but television news reports project that his party, Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), will finish with 119 of 270 seats. A coalition government with one of the other two major parties is likely.

The nuclear-armed Pakistan’s road to democratic rule has been uneven. This election, the second consecutive transfer of power between two civil governments after a decade of military rule, was marred by violence: an ISIS attack on July 13 killing nearly 150 people and an election day bombing killing 31. Other parties have alleged vote-rigging and that the military establishment cracked down on Khan’s opponents. Seventeen thousand members of the PML-N party face charges for breaking election rules, according to the BBC. Khan has criticized some Taliban violence but his party has ties to hard-line Islamic political figures, according to Radio Free Europe.