Pakistan Election Results 2024: Political turmoil grips the State as Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif vie for power

Both Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif on Friday have claimed victory in the 2024 Pakistan Assembly election that has been marred by political turmoil owing to delayed results. While Nawaz Sharif’s party recorded the highest number of seats won by a single party during Thursday’s election, his rival, Imran Khan’s supporters who ran the elections as independents have reportedly secured the most seats. However, the situation in Pakistan is still grappling with severe uncertainty as the election results released on Saturday have failed to show any signs of a clear majority. Imran Khan’s supporters, who ran as independents instead of a single bloc, have put forth a strong poll performance overall. It is important to note that the election results were released amidst allegations of vote rigging, spates of violence, and a mobile phone shut-down imposed over the State.

“We don’t have enough of a majority to form a government without the support of others and we invite allies to join the coalition so we can make joint efforts to pull Pakistan out of its problems,” said Nawaz Sharif to his supporters on Friday. Sharif’s PML-N will now have to forge an alliance with rivals and independents to form a government. Nawaz Sharif had anticipated a smooth sail through the elections, but, the turnout of the Imran Khan loyalists disrupted his plans. As per reports, Nawaz Sharif has reached out to PPP's Asif Ali Zardari, JUI-F’s Fazlur Rehman and MQM-P’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui for the formation of a coalition government.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday rejected his rival Nawaz Sharif’s claims to victory. In a social media post on his “X” account, Imran Khan claimed the victory of PTI through a video message generated by artificial intelligence. PTI was forced to break down and its candidates fought the elections as independent candidates following a crackdown owing to disqualified from participating in Thursday’s election due to criminal convictions. However, time and again, Imran Khan has rebutted the sentences, and stated that they are all politically motivated.

As per the counting tally on Saturday morning, independents secured a total of 99 seats, 88 of them loyal to Imran Khan. The PML-N bagged 71, and PPP 53. Results of 15 out of the elected 266 seat National Assembly are yet to be announced.

Pakistan held its elections on Thursday; however, no constituency had reported a full tally despite nearly nine hours having passed since polling ended. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, asserted a lead based on preliminary, unofficial counts. Polling stations across the nation closed at 5 p.m. local time after a lengthy nine-hour voting period. However, as of 2 a.m. on Friday, numerous constituencies had only managed to tally around 10% of the votes, as per local media. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the former foreign minister and leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, expressed frustration over the "unbelievably slow" pace of result announcements.

Amidst soaring allegations of vote rigging, marred by sporadic spates of violence and a mobile phone shutdown, the United States, Britain, and the European Union on Friday voiced their apprehensions regarding Pakistan's electoral process following Thursday's vote and called for an investigation into alleged irregularities.