When the Pakistani government censors the media, former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party posted campaign videos on TikTok. When the police banned his supporters from holding rallies, they hosted virtual rallies online.
And when Mr Khan ended up behind bars, his supporters produced speeches using artificial intelligence to simulate his voice.
Mr. Khan’s message resonated with millions across the country disillusioned with the country’s economic crisis and old political dynasties: Pakistan has been in steep decline for decades, he explained, and only he could restore its old sublime.
The success of candidates aligned with Mr Khan’s in last week’s election – which captured more seats in Parliament than any other – was a stunning upset in Pakistani politics. Since Mr. Khan fell out with the country’s generals and was ousted from parliament in 2022, his supporters have faced a military crackdown that experts say was designed to oust the former prime minister.
His success marked the first time in Pakistan’s recent history that the political strategy used by the country’s powerful military for decades to maintain power has suddenly gone off course. It also demonstrated how Mr Khan’s populist rhetoric and the country’s youthful internet-driven youth they are rewriting politics in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 240 million people that has wrestled with military coups since its founding 76 years ago.
Now, as the parties of Mr Khan and Nawaz Sharif, a three-time former prime minister, struggle to win over other lawmakers and form a coalition government, Pakistan is in uncharted territory. If Mr Khan’s party succeeds – an outcome many analysts believe is unlikely – it will be the first time in Pakistan’s history that a civilian government will be led by a party opposed to the military and whose leader behind bars.
Regardless of the outcome, Mr. Khan’s party “proved itself to be an unshakable political presence, tapping into the discontent of Pakistan’s youth,” said Adam Weinstein, associate director of the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. Washington. “The old playbook on shaping the country’s politics is outdated. Social media and youth mobilization have changed the game.”
For about half of Pakistan’s history, the military ruled the country directly. When civilian governments were allowed to come to power, they were led by a handful of leaders – including Mr Khan’s opponent in this election, Mr Sharif – who usually came to power with the support of the generals.
These military leaders built political parties around their family dynasties, passing party leadership from one generation to the next—and keeping political power in a tight circle. But in recent years, as the country’s young population has reached about half its electorate, there has been a growing disenchantment with that system, analysts say.
Young people felt excluded from Pakistan’s political system because “someone in the family will always have the first place,” said Zaigham Khan, a political analyst based in Islamabad. “The old parties are becoming obsolete because they refuse to change – and that has created a vacuum for someone like Imran Khan.”
While Mr Khan initially rose to political prominence with the help of the military, after his ouster he capitalized on the youth’s yearning for change to strengthen his political base independently of the generals. His party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, has produced political campaigns on social media—outside the reach of state censorship—that young people say have sparked a political awakening for their generation.
In a viral video, Mr Khan condemned the country’s generals, whom he blamed for his ouster in 2022. He described how the military operated like a “deep state” that controls politics from behind the scenes and claimed the United States had colluded with Pakistani officials for his removal from power. He described himself as a reformer who would bring about change.
His message excited young people across the country.
“I vote for change. I am fed up with this whole system of political parties running the country,” Usman Saeed, 36, said as he stood outside a polling station in Lahore on Thursday after casting his vote for PTI candidates. “They put Imran Khan in jail – that’s the main issue – it shows that everything is run by the establishment,” he added, referring to the military.
Few of those voters remembered the discontent of Mr. Khan’s final months in power, when his popularity plummeted as inflation soared. Had he been allowed to complete his term, many analysts said, his party would likely not have won the next general election.
But even after his ouster, the country’s military leaders appeared to underestimate the country’s shifting political sands. As Mr. Khan made a political comeback, the generals turned to their old playbook to oust him.
Authorities slapped Mr. Khan with dozens of charges that resulted in four separate sentences totaling 34 years in prison. They arrested hundreds of his supporters and—for the first time—cast a much wider net, going after Pakistanis in the country’s elite, even those with close ties to the military itself.
This campaign of intimidation appeared to only strengthen support for Mr. Khan. Because the crackdown was widely publicized on social media, it further exposed and turned the public against the military’s heavy hand in politics. Many people who voted last week for Mr. Khan’s party said they did so simply to abuse the generals.
Looming over the political struggle now to form a new government are widespread allegations of vote tampering by the military and promises by Mr. Khan’s party of long, bruising court battles to challenge dozens of results it says the military rigged. On Sunday, thousands of Mr. Khan’s supporters took to the streets across the country to express their anger over allegations of electoral fraud — protests that were met with police batons and tear gas.
“PTI is a peaceful party that led a revolution through ballots,” the party’s Punjab provincial chief Hamad Azhar told the platform known as X. “We will not allow our struggle to be overwhelmed by malicious plans.”
The political showdown has put the country – whose history is littered with military coups and mass unrest – on edge. Most agree that despite the election results showing how many Pakistanis reject the country’s broken political system, Pakistan is still not moving in a direction of greater stability or a stronger democracy.
“Even if the balance of power tilts in favor of political parties, will they actually act democratically?” said Bilal Gilani, executive director of Gallup Pakistan. “Or will they become more fascist in their ideologies? Will they exclude people who haven’t voted for them? That’s the question now.”
Zia ur-Rehman contributed to the report.
