Imran loyalists lead, Nawaz eyes allies

Pakistan appeared to be heading toward a hung assembly after 92 independents, most of them loyalists of jailed ex-premier Imran Khan, won the election that was marred by unusual delays, allegations of rigging, and sporadic violence.At the time of going to print, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced the results of 226 constituencies, of which 92 were won by independents, most of them candidates supported by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has won 59, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) bagged 44, while 12 seats went to smaller parties.The setback forced three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), to urge rivals to join hands to form a stable coalition government to rebuild Pakistan.Though there were dozens of parties in the fray, the main contest was between PTI, whose candidates are running as independents, PML-N and PPP.To form a government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 in the National Assembly. Election to one seat was postponed after the death of a candidate. 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.Khan (71) is behind bars and barred from contesting, while PTI candidates are running as independents after they were not allowed to use the party symbol – a cricket ‘bat’.