Pakistan election results 2024 updates: Counting on but no clear winner yet

Iran and the United States have exchanged messages throughout Israel’s four-month-old war in Gaza, including about Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, the Iranian foreign minister has revealed.

“During this war and in the recent weeks, there was an exchange of messages between Iran and America,” Hossein Amirabdollahian said through a translator at a press conference in Beirut.

He said the US had asked Tehran to request Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, “not to get widely, fully involved in this war against” Israel.

We are closing this page, but this doesn’t mean a stop to our continuing coverage of the Pakistan election.

You can read the latest developments here.

• Independents (including those affiliated with the PTI) – 99
• PMLN – 71
• PPP – 53
• Others – 27

Announced: 250

Postponed: 1

Remaining: 15

A US-based analyst says a coalition government in Pakistan will struggle to tackle multiple challenges, the foremost being seeking a new IMF bailout programme after the current arrangement expires in three weeks.

A coalition government “would probably be unstable, weak” and “the big loser … will be the army”, said Marvin Weinbaum, the director of Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC.

“Because the army really has staked its reputation on its ability to deliver this vote.”

Several US politicians have demanded an investigation into allegations of rigging and fraud in the Pakistan election.

“I call on the State Department to refrain from recognising the results until credible, independent investigations have been conducted into the numerous allegations of misconduct,” US Congress member Ilhan Omar tweeted.

Representative Susan Wild said, “Now is the time for the international community to stand” with the people of Pakistan.

Congressman Ro Khanna said he was “deeply concerned by the growing evidence that the military is interfering and rigging the result to overturn the will of the Pakistani people”.

Candidates linked to jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party are in the lead in Pakistan’s election, ahead of two dynastic parties believed to be favoured by the military, as vote counting enters its final leg.

In an AI-generated “victory speech” posted on X, Khan described the polls as an “unprecedented fightback from the nation” that resulted in the PTI’s “landslide victory” despite a crackdown on his party.

Meanwhile, another former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who heads the PMLN, said he would seek to form a coalition government after his party trailed the independent candidates backed by Khan.

Read more here.

• Independents (including those affiliated with PTI) – 99
• PMLN – 70
• PPP – 52
• Others – 25

Announced: 246

Postponed: 1

Remaining: 19

Results have been announced from 44 seats in the 51-member assembly in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province.

No party has emerged as a clear winner, with the Pakistan People’s Party securing 11 seats, closely followed by PMLN at nine, and PTI-backed independents winning five.

A total of nine different parties have won at least one seat each.

Punjab’s Provincial Assembly has seen a hotly-contested vote, with the PMLN having a slender lead with 131 seats, while the independents, including PTI-affiliated candidates, have won 126.

Results from all but one seat in the 296-member assembly have been announced.

The Pakistan People’s Party has also made gains in the province, winning 10 seats.

Imran Khan’s PTI has won 90 of the 115 seats in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

None of its rivals managed to cross single digits, with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam winning seven seats, followed by five for Nawaz Sharif’s PMLN.

Results from one constituency have not yet come in.

Ahsan Butt, associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, has called the success of PTI-affiliated candidates as “one of the biggest surprises” of the vote.

Butt told Al Jazeera the Pakistani state machinery had “set the stage” for PTI’s rivals to win the election.

“There were a lot of impediments in their way, but the PTI seems to have overcome those, which is an incredible achievement and testament to the popularity of its leader Imran Khan and the connection he has with the public,” he said.

Butt said there were “deep concerns” over the initial delay in announcing the results, which signalled “something nefarious was afoot”, adding that it could “quite significantly” lead to more political instability.

“The public seems to have spoken, quite explicitly, about who they trust Pakistan’s leadership with and it is Khan. Continuing to suppress his party and his voters by denying their popular mandate will only lead to further instability,” he said.

• Independents (including those affiliated with the PTI) – 99
• PMLN – 69
• PPP – 52
• Others – 25

Announced: 245
Postponed: 1
Remaining: 20

With results from just 24 seats of 266-member National Assembly now outstanding, political manoeuvring begins to form the next government. At least 134 seats are needed for a simple majority.

PTI-backed candidates have won 98 seats while Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), has secured 67. In a speech earlier on Friday, Sharif claimed victory and invited allies.

Hours later, Imran Khan released an AI-generated “victory speech” video from jail, calling Sharif a “petty man” and saying no Pakistani would accept his claim of victory.

Later in the evening, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, chairperson of Pakistan People’s Party, which has so far won 51 seats, arrived in Lahore with his father Asif Ali Zardari to meet the PMLN leadership.

The UK, US and EU have raised concerns about alleged election irregularities, with Washington and Brussels calling for the authorities to conduct an investigation.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani “wished the brotherly, friendly and neighbourly country of Pakistan increasing prosperity”.

Read more about how the world has reacted here.

• Independents (including those affiliated with the PTI) – 98
• PMLN – 67
• PPP – 51
• Others – 25

Announced: 241
Postponed: 1
Remaining: 24

In an AI-generated message to supporters, Khan said the massive turnout of PTI supporters in Thursday’s election “shocked everyone”.

He decried PMLN leader Nawaz Sharif as a “petty man”, adding: “No Pakistani will accept him” or his claim of victory.

“International media is also commenting on this stupidity,” he said, alleging widespread vote rigging.

“My fellow Pakistanis, you have made history. I am proud of you, and I give thanks to God for uniting the nation,” Khan said.

“Now, no one can stop us. Lastly, do not worry, celebrate, and give thanks to God. Despite two years of oppression and injustice, we won the election with a two-thirds majority,” he added.

“Everyone has seen the strength of your vote, now be prepared to protect your vote.”

This has already ended up in the streets in some areas. We understand that two people have been killed because of the violence in northwestern Pakistan following these elections and around 20 people were injured.

When we’ve been on the streets of Lahore, people have been openly saying that there’s been vote rigging taking place, there’s been discrepancies.

Some of the forms coming out from those polling stations show that there are in fact discrepancies and there is a real fear among people that if their votes are not respected, in terms of reflecting who they voted for, then that frustration could boil over into the streets, like we’ve already seen in some places.