Pakistan Elections: A look at challenges awaiting new govt amid poll result uncertainty

livemint.com:

Dawn, the provisional results released by the Election Commission of Pakistan showed that independent candidates, mostly backed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI), were leading the poll results. Follow Pakistan Election Results 2024 LIVE Updates here Around 7 pm on Friday, the report showed that the PTI-backed candidates had won 50 seats, Nawaz Shareef's PML-N had won 40 seats and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party had won 19 seats. The voting was held in 265 of the 266 constituencies in Pakistan's National Assembly and a political party needs 133 seats for a simple majority.

Overall, 169 seats are needed to secure a simple majority out of its total 336 seats, which include the reserved slots for women and minorities. ALSO READ: Pakistan elections: What caused the delay in poll results? Interior ministry says 'lack of communication' Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, a PML-N leader and Nawaz Sharif's daughter claimed that "PMLN...(is) emerging as the single largest party in centre and in Punjab". Notably, PTI party leaders contested the polls as independent candidates after Pakistan's Supreme Court and the Election Commission said they couldn’t use the party symbol — a cricket bat.

Analysts predicted that there may be no clear winner. In case no political party wins an outright majority, the one with the most seats can try to form a coalition government. However, Pakistan's political climate is said to be deeply divided.