Pakistan's Imran Khan officially wins vote, but falls short of majority
Pakistan's Imran Khan officially wins vote, but falls short of majority
The country's Election Commission released an official tally on Friday, a day after Khan declared victory in a vote marred by rigging accusations.
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Cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan won Pakistan's election but fell short of a majority government, according to an official tally by the country's Electoral Commission.
A jubilant Khan had declared victory a day earlier after a poll marred by vote-rigging accusations.
The Election Commission (ECP) said on Friday that with only 11 seats left to count, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) enjoyed a strong lead with 114 seats, and will be the biggest party in parliament.
The commission said the outgoing Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 63 seats and the left-wing Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) - which could prove kingmaker in a coalition government - had won 43.
Khan's PTI will not reach the 137-seat threshold to form a majority government, according to the ECP tally.
A jubilant Khan had declared victory a day earlier after a poll marred by vote-rigging accusations.
The Election Commission (ECP) said on Friday that with only 11 seats left to count, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) enjoyed a strong lead with 114 seats, and will be the biggest party in parliament.
The commission said the outgoing Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 63 seats and the left-wing Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) - which could prove kingmaker in a coalition government - had won 43.
Khan's PTI will not reach the 137-seat threshold to form a majority government, according to the ECP tally.
Analysts had long predicted that if Khan took power it would have to be via coalition, with doubts over the level of support for him nationally.
But the size of his lead still took many by surprise, and had helped fuel suspicion over vote-rigging late on Wednesday and Thursday.
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Most rival parties, including the PML-N and the PPP, had alleged rigging. The PML-N has vowed to fight the matter in court.
The PML-N's former leader, Nawaz Sharif, a three-term prime minister, was convicted in absentia in a wide-ranging corruption case and was arrested and jailed on his return to Pakistan in July. It is thought the conviction, linked to revelations in the Panama Papers, was unlikely to hurt the PML-N's popularity in its heartlands.
The vote was meant to be a rare democratic transition in the Muslim country, which has been ruled by the powerful army for roughly half its history.
Some 800,000 police and military personnel were dispatched to 85,000 polling stations across the country in what they said was to guarantee security.
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At least 31 died on Wednesday after a suicide blast struck a polling station in the western city of Quetta.
The ECP came under fire for delays in vote-counting after ballots closed on Wednesday, with observers saying the hold-up undermined the legitimacy of the vote.
Election officials have blamed the delay in results on technical glitches.
But a Pakistani election observer group, the Free And Fair Election Network (FAFEN), said on Friday the "scale of procedural irregularities during the voting process was relatively low" in its preliminary assessment.
The group said it observered 37,001 of the more than 85,000 polling stations across the country.
Analysts had also predicted that the PPP could become kingmaker in any coalition, but on Friday a PTI spokesman ruled that out.
"We will not make any agreement or alliance with the Peoples' Party for the formation of the government," Naeem ul-Haq told reporters in Islamabad.
He said the party was already in contact with independent members in Punjab province, historically a PML-N stronghold.
Khan, who captained Pakistan to the country's first and only cricket World Cup victory in 1992, campaigned on promises to end widespread graft while building an "Islamic welfare state". The message resonated with poor and middle class Pakistanis.
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