Pakistan election – live: Imran Khan’s PTI calls for protest amid concerns of fraud in inconclusive polls

Khan’s close aide and media adviser, Zulfi Bukhari, told Reuters the party would announce within the next day the party banner they will ask independents to join. In Pakistan, independent candidates cannot form a government on their own and need to join a party.

“And we have no fear of independents going anywhere, because these are the people who have struggled for the last 18 months and endured all kinds of torture and oppression,” Bukhari told Reuters in a WhatsApp voice message.

Whoever seeks to form the next government would need support from other parties with no one close to the seat threshold for a simple majority in parliament.

Beside Khan and Sharif, the Pakistan Peoples Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated premier Benazir Bhutto, remains a major player with at least 53 seats.

The rest were won by small parties and other independents. This sets up a period of intense political negotiations over the next few days before a parliamentary vote to elect a new prime minister and government can take place.

“No one can form a government without us,” Bhutto Zardari told local Geo TV.

Pakistan‘s army chief congratulated the country on Saturday for the “successful conduct” of the election, saying the nation needed “stable hands” to move on from the politics of “anarchy and polarisation”.

The military remains the country’s most powerful institution and has for decades had a huge role in making and breaking governments.

Khan accuses the military of a crackdown on him and his party. The military denies this.

From jail, Khan released an audio-visual message created with artificial intelligence rather than having a statement read out by his lawyers, as is usually the case, in which he rejected Sharif’s claim to victory.

In the message posted on social media platform X, he called on his supporters to celebrate what he called a win that had been achieved despite a crackdown on his party and alleged poll rigging to limit the success of PTI-backed candidates.

The United States, Britain and the European Union on Friday each expressed concerns about the electoral process, urging a probe into reported irregularities.

Foreign Secretary David Cameron cited “serious concerns” that raised questions “about the fairness and lack of inclusivity of the elections”.

Pakistan‘s foreign office responded to the comments on Saturday, saying they ignored the “undeniable fact” that the election had been successfully conducted.

“It is our hope that the process will be concluded effectively and it will reflect the will of the people,” said former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who is leading the Commonwealth team to observe the voting.

Malala Yousafzai posted on X that Pakistan needs “free and fair elections,” adding that this includes “transparency in counting votes and respect for the results.”

The 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate said people should accept the voters’ decision “with grace.”

“I hope our elected officials, whether in government or opposition parties, will prioritise democracy and prosperity for the people of Pakistan,” she said.

Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which was barred from competing in the election, has called for a nationwide protest today amid a delay in the announcement of a clear winner in the polls.

Independent candidates, most backed by Mr Khan, have emerged in the lead with 101 seats with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) trailing with 74 seats, according to the election commission.

However, a clear winner has not yet been announced.

PTI said it would hold “peaceful protests” across the country at 2:00 pm local time today.

Three elected independent candidates in the Pakistan general elections announced their decision to join former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.

The candidates Barrister Aqeel, Raja Khurram Nawaz, and Mian Khan Bugti officially announced their decision to join the PML-N, according to The Express Tribune.

This strengthens PML-N’s tally of elected representatives to the parliament which currently stands at 74, according to the election commission.

Several users of X – formerly Twitter – from Pakistan reported widespread outage of the social media platform amid allegations reported online of poll rigging in the Pakistan general election.

Activists questioned the reason behind the slowdown and outage of the platform across the country.

Internet observatory NetBlocks confirmed that there was a nation-scale disruption to X/Twitter across Pakistan “amid political turmoil after a controversial election.”

Commending the people of Pakistan for in the week’s elections, the US House foreign affairs committee said free and fair elections “must be protected.”

The committee’s chairman Michael McCaul called for allegations of corruption or fraud to be fully investigated, adding that those responsible “must be held accountable.”

“The United States supports the right of the Pakistani people to a democratically elected government that respects the rule of law and human rights,” Mr McCaul said.