On Friday, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif claimed victory in the National Elections 2024. He said that his political party has emerged as the largest and will discuss forming a coalition government. However, he did not reveal how many seats his political party had won. Counting was still underway in the last few of the 265 seats that went to the elections.
Interestingly, on Friday, jailed ex-Pakistan premier Imran Khan’s party-backed independent candidates sprung a surprise by winning 86 seats out of the 201 results announced. Pakistan appears to be heading towards a hung assembly. The general election was marred by allegations of rigging, sporadic violence, and a countrywide mobile phone shutdown.
This election encompassed contests for 265 of the 266 seats in the national assembly, underscoring the significance of each win in the race to secure a simple majority of 133 seats. The elections are being held amid a severe economic crisis in a starkly polarised political setup.
As world watches counting of votes, here are latest updates from Pakistan:
According to sources within the PPP, PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari convened in Lahore on Friday, as reported by Dawn. The meeting occurred shortly after Nawaz claimed victory in the recently held general elections and extended an invitation to his allies to collaborate in forming a coalition government. Subsequently, the official account of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan on X shared an AI-generated victory speech, wherein he congratulated the public and his party candidates for their perceived success in the 2024 general elections.
Both the PPP and PML-N were previously part of the PDM government, which assumed power following Imran Khan’s removal from the prime minister’s office in 2022. The latest results indicate that independent candidates have secured 98 seats thus far, with the PML-N and PPP following behind with 69 and 51 seats respectively.
Imran Khan’s official account on X shared an AI-generated victory speech from the jailed PTI founder, congratulating the public and party candidates for their perceived victory in the 2024 general elections. In the speech posted on his official X account, the former prime minister remarked, “You have set the foundation for your haqeeqi azaadi by voting yesterday. I extend my congratulations to all for winning the 2024 elections.” Khan expressed gratitude to supporters for their overwhelming turnout, stating, “Your massive turn out has shocked everyone.”
Chairman Imran Khan's victory speech (AI version) after an unprecedented fightback from the nation that resulted in PTI’s landslide victory in General Elections 2024. pic.twitter.com/Z6GiLwCVCR
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 9, 2024
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Friday, urged for the formation of a unity government as Pakistan faced the prospect of a hung parliament amidst financial strain. According to newsy agency PTI, independent candidates, supported by jailed ex-premier Imran Khan’s party, unexpectedly secured 98 out of the 226 declared seats so far. The latest Election Commission data revealed that results from 226 constituencies out of 265 had been declared, with independent candidates, primarily backed by PTI, claiming 98 seats. PML-N secured 67 seats, while Pakistan Peoples Party obtained 51, Muttahida Qaumi Movement won 14, and other parties acquired 9 seats.
In a shift from his previous stance of avoiding alliances, Sharif emphasized the necessity for all political parties to collaborate and establish a government to alleviate Pakistan’s challenges, according to PTI.
According to provisional results released by the ECP and reported by Dawn, PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif secured victory in the NA-130 seat from Lahore with 179,310 votes. Yasmin Rashid, supported by PTI, came in second place with 104,485 votes.
In its first reaction, a senior aide of Imran Khan said leaders of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party would hold talks among themselves. On Saturday, the leaders will also meet Khan in jail to discuss the outcome, reported Geo News.
All institutions should together play positive role in bringing Pakistan out of this crisis, said PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
#WATCH | Lahore | Former Pakistan PM and Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif says, "…We want our relations with the world to be better…We will improve our relations with them and resolve all our issues with them…"
— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2024
(Video: Reuters) pic.twitter.com/MJbxcV2Dox
On Friday, according to a Dawn report, independent candidates are leading with 52 seats, according to the provisional results released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) so far. These candidates are mostly backed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI).
The ECP has released the provisional results for 120 out of 266 seats of the country’s parliamentary election.
“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,” Nawaz Sharif said, reported AP.
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif is changing tack. On Friday he said that he will seek to form a coalition government after his party trailed the independent candidates of his rival Imran Khan in preliminary results following the country’s parliamentary election.
On Friday, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif claimed victory in national elections 2024.
He said that his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party has emerged as the largest in the results.
The people of Pakistan have made a choice, and it is time to respect their verdict and uphold it, the mainstream media commented on Friday as they predicted that the outcome of the controversy-ridden polls will not provide any closure for the cash-strapped country’s political crisis.
“Crisis and instability will likely continue to plague the nation,” the Dawn newspaper said in a stinging editorial, a day after millions cast their ballot in the hope of having a stable government that can address their woes.
According to a report by Tribune, Interior Minister Dr. Gohar Ejaz addressed the security challenges encountered by the interim government during the general elections, noting that despite the suspension of mobile services, 56 incidents were reported on election day.
According to provisional results released by the Election Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan People’s Party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari secured victory in the NA-196 constituency of Qamber Shahdadtkot-I with 85,370 votes, as reported by Dawn. However, news agency PTI reported that Bilawal faced defeat in the NA-127 Lahore National Assembly seat to PML-N’s Atta Tarar, garnering only 15,000 votes.
In the recently concluded general elections, the four members of the Sharif family from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party have secured their National Assembly seats in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, known as their stronghold. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) took more than 20 hours after the polls to announce the results for their respective constituencies.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, 74, emerged victorious from NA-130 with over 172,000 votes, defeating PTI’s Dr. Yasmin Rashid, who secured over 113,000 votes. Similarly, Nawaz’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, 50, clinched victory from NA-119 with over 83,000 votes, defeating PTI’s Farooq Shahzad, who received over 68,000 votes.
In NA-118, Nawaz’s nephew, Hamza Shehbaz, 49, secured victory with over 105,000 votes, surpassing PTI’s Aliya Hamza, who received over 100,000 votes. Meanwhile, Nawaz’s younger brother and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, 72, won from NA-123 with 63,000 votes, defeating PTI’s Afzaal Phaat, who secured over 48,000 votes.
According to Dawn, Pakistani Senator and member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Sherry Rehman, claimed on Friday that votes for party chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari were “missing” in the NA-127 constituency of Lahore. Rehman attributed the alleged chaos to the disruption of phone services and suggested that the delay in announcing consolidated results was due to alterations in the outcome.
Ex-Pak PM Imran Khan-backed independent candidates won 49 out of 136 official results so far in the National Election 2024.
On Friday, as results of Pakistan‘s elections began trickling in, defence expert Qamar Agha said that the lead for independent candidates backed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party reflected the unbelief of the people towards Pakistan’s army.
Agha said that the Pakistani army’s main supporters, like Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamaat-ul-Ilema Islam had lost support among the people.
Defense analyst Qamar Agha remarked that the advantage held by independent candidates supported by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party indicated a lack of trust from the populace towards the country’s military. He observed a decline in support for major backers of the Pakistani army, such as Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamaat-ul-Ilema Islam, among the public.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) announced that its leader, Nawaz Sharif, is prepared to deliver a “victory speech” following the announcement of final results from the general elections. The party also stated that it is engaging with independent candidates supported by the imprisoned former Prime Minister, Imran Khan’s party.
According to Tradeweb data on Friday, Pakistan‘s sovereign dollar bonds experienced further declines, surpassing a 5-cent loss. This followed closely contested election results on Thursday, where both Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif declared victory. All sovereign dollar bonds registered decreases, with the September 2025 maturity witnessing the most significant drop, falling just over 5 cents to trade at 82.4 cents on the dollar by 0751 GMT.
At least nine people have been killed and more than dozen are injured in a series of violence that took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district and in several districts of Balochistan, as stated by Dawn.