Messrs Khan and Sharif both claimed victory.

Mr Sharif's party won the most seats by a single party in the election, but parties supporting Mr Khan, who is in prison and running as an independent rather than as a bloc after his party was banned from the election, won the most seats overall.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (C) speaks at the Pakistan Muslim League office at Model Town in Lahore, Pakistan on February 9, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Mr Sharif said his party would negotiate with other groups to form a coalition government because it had failed to win a simple majority on its own.

Mr Sharif's announcement came after more than three-quarters of the 265 seats in Pakistan's parliament declared results, more than 24 hours after voting ended on Thursday.

The results showed independent parties, most of them backed by Mr Khan, won the most seats - 98 of the 245 counted at 18:30 GMT on Friday.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 69 votes while the Pakistan People's Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, got 51. The rest went to other small and independent parties.

"The Pakistan Muslim League is the largest party in the country today after the elections and our mission is to bring this country out of the crisis spiral," Mr Sharif told supporters gathered outside his home in the city of Lahore.

Mr Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party released a message generated using artificial intelligence and shared it on his X social media account.

In the message, sent in audio format through his lawyers, Mr Khan rejected Mr Sharif's claim of victory, congratulating his supporters on "winning" the election and urging them to celebrate and protect their votes.

Mr Khan, a former cricket star, has been in jail since August and was sentenced three times in the six days before the election to 10, 14 and seven years in jail respectively in cases involving state secrets, bribery and illegal marriage.

Mr Sharif, 74, a three-time prime minister who returned late last year after four years in the UK, was seen as the favourite to win the election.

Hoang Anh (according to Reuters, AP)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/bau-cu-pakistan-dien-ra-cang-thang-cac-ong-khan-va-sharif-deu-tuyen-bo-chien-thang-post284179.html