With some outstanding results – mostly from Balochistan, where smaller local parties won – the slow counting process revealed that independent candidates had won at least 100 seats, 89 of which were loyal to Khan.
PML-N got 73 seats and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) got 54 seats.
Smaller parties shared 27 seats between them – including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which took 17 seats – which is likely to be of great interest to PTI in the days to come.
If PTI’s independent candidates join one of them, they can take a share of the 70 unelected seats reserved for women and religious minorities, which are allocated according to the party’s performance in the contested vote.
‘Recount our votes’
Most of the seats won by Khan loyalists were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where police said at least two PTI supporters were killed and more than 20 injured on Friday when they protested against alleged vote-rigging in Shangla district – Elections The first serious violence was reported after.
Several small, scattered protests by PTI supporters were reported across the country on Saturday.
Khan was barred from contesting the election after serving several lengthy prison sentences in the days before the vote.
A nationwide mobile telephone blackout on election day and slow counting of results led to suspicions that the military establishment was influencing the process to ensure Sharif’s success.
Bilal Gilani, executive director of polling group Gallup Pakistan, said, “The PTI, as a party and political group, continues to hold on to its vote bank, despite significant efforts by the civil and military establishment.”