IMRAN SHORT OF MAJORITY, EYES SUPPORT FROM SMALLER PARTIES

ISLAMABAD: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerged as the largest party in the National Assembly on Friday from this week’s general election, but will have to lean on smaller parties and independents for support to form the next government.

The PTI won 115 of the 270 seats to which elections were held on Wednesday, followed by jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 62 seats and former President Asif Ali Zardar’s Pakistan Peoples Party with 43, according to the Election Commission, which declared the results for 261 seats on Friday. Independents won 12 seats.

The Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) clinched 12 seats while the Pakistan Muslim League of former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi won five seats.

The Karachi-based Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) won six seats. The MMA is an alliance of traditional religious parties like the Jamat-i-Islami.

Nearly-finalised results also indicate religious parties that fielded more candidates than ever before failed to win any National Assembly seats. The Allahu Akbar Tehreek party of Hafiz Saeed, who is accused of masterminding the 2008 attacks that killed 166 people in Mumbai, did not win a single seat. Neither did candidates linked to Sunni extremist group Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat.

Although Khan, 65, appeared likely to fall short of the 137 seats needed for a majority in the National Assembly, his betterthan-expected results mean he should have no problems forming a government with coalition partners, after an election that will lead to what will only be the second civilian-to-civlian transition of power in Pakistan’s 70-year history.