Pakistan's Khan-Backed Independents Lead in Final Poll Count
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Pakistan's national election vote count concluded on Sunday with independents, mostly backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, winning 101 of the 264 seats, the election commission's website showed.
The final tally was released more than 60 hours after voting concluded in Thursday's national elections, a delay that has raised questions about the process, Reuters reported.
The independents came in ahead of the party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, which won 75 seats, making it the largest single party in parliament as Khan's independents ran as individuals.
Sharif has said his party is talking to other groups to form a coalition government as it had failed to win a clear majority on its own.
Khan's PTI party had threatened to hold nationwide peaceful protests on Sunday if the vote tally was not released overnight, and some small protests took place overnight.
Pakistan's interim government says the delay was caused by communication issues due to a mobile internet outage on election day. The outage, which authorities said was for security reasons, drew concern from rights groups and foreign governments.
Around 93 of the independent candidates who won seats were associated with Khan's PTI party.
