bIn the parliamentary elections in Pakistan, candidates from the camp of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan performed surprisingly well. After counting 128 of the 266 seats, they were ahead. However, none of the three leading parties seemed to be able to achieve their own majority. It is considered unlikely that Khan's PTI could put forward its own candidate for prime minister. It is expected that some of the PTI candidates may join other factions after the election as they had to contest as independents. A victory for former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party was generally expected. His PML-N performed worse than expected. Sharif is considered the preferred candidate of the military, which pulls the strings behind the scenes in Pakistan.
The results were published hours late. No final result was available as of Friday afternoon. The delay fueled allegations of manipulation and led to both Khan's PTI and Sharif's PML-N declaring themselves the winner on Friday night. Doubts about the official figures were also fueled by the fact that supposed partial results were circulating on the Internet, according to which the PTI was supposedly on the way to its own majority. A senator from the opposing PML-N then wrote that Pakistan may be facing the “biggest election sensation” in 50 years.