Pakistan Election Results 2024: Imran Khan’s PTI-backed Independents lead; Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N trails

Pakistan Election Results 2024: Counting ends in over half the seats, Imran Khan’s PTI-backed Independents lead; Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N trails
Lahore: With counting of votes underway, Independen candidates backed by Imran Khan’s PTI have won 55 out of the 139 National Assembly seats whose results have been announced, as per news agency PTI. Meanwhile, in a close contest, Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s PPP have won 43 and 55 seats so far. Almost nine hours after a violence-hit polling day concluded, the Election Commission of Pakistan began announcing results today.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday said that that the former three-time PM is set to deliver a “victory speech” once the final results of the country’s general elections are announced, as per a PTI report. The PML-N further said that the party is in contact with the independent candidates backed by jailed former premier Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Sharif and three of his family members – his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz as well as Nawaz’s daughter Maryam Nawaz – have already scored victories in Lahore.

About the elections: The voting, completed on February 8, took place for a total of 265 seats in the Pakistan National Assembly, with the next Prime Minister requiring a simple majority (i.e. 169 votes) in the NA to be sworn in. There are three main political contenders — the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its key leader, former PM Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by Imran Khan, and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who is projecting former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto as the PM candidate.