While there has been no clear victor from the divisive Pakistan general elections 2024, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have agreed to form a coalition government at the Centre and Punjab province. The development comes after Shehbaz Sharif of PML-N met Bilawal Bhutto and former president Asif Ali Zardari of the PPP, inviting them to work together for Pakistan, Geo News reported.

Pakistan also faces days of political horse-trading after the final few election results released showed no clear majority, but a strong performance by independent candidates loyal to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) defied a months-long crackdown that crippled campaigning and forced their candidates to run as independents with a combined showing in Thursday’s election that still challenged their chief rivals.

However, after long delays in results that prompted further allegations the military establishment had engaged in vote-rigging, the army-backed PML-N declared victory as the party with the largest number of seats. Follow LIVE updates on Pakistan election results 2024

Top updates on Pakistan election results 2024

• Former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan both declared victory on Friday.
• About 100 of the winning candidates are Independents, all but eight of them backed by Imran Khan’s PTI party, said the Free and Fair Election Network, a non-profit electoral watchdog.
• Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N won 71, while the PPP of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the son of assassinated premier Benazir Bhutto, got 53.
• Amid rigging allegations, Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir congratulated the country for the “successful conduct” of its national elections, saying the nation needed “stable hands” to move on from the politics of “anarchy and polarisation”.
• The Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan “wishes that these elections bring in political and economic stability and prove to be the harbinger of peace and prosperity for our beloved Pakistan”, the army chief said in a statement released by the media wing of the military.
• The United States, Britain and the European Union on Friday each expressed concerns about Pakistan’s electoral process, urging a probe into reported irregularities. British foreign secretary David Cameron cited “serious concerns” raising questions “about the fairness and lack of inclusivity of the elections”.
• Pakistan’s foreign office countered the international criticisms, saying they ignore the “undeniable fact” of Pakistan conducting elections successfully.
• On Friday, Nawaz Sharif said the PML-N had emerged as the largest and would talk to other groups to form a coalition government.
• Imran Khan, who is in jail, released an audio-visual message created with artificial intelligence, rather than being read out by his lawyers, as is usually the case. He also rejected Sharif’s claim to victory in the message on social media platform X, calling on his supporters to celebrate what he called a win achieved despite a crackdown on his party.

(With inputs from agencies)