Election results in Pakistan were delayed amid signs that the party of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan had performed much better than expected.
Only a handful of results were available more than 12 hours after polls closed. The Pakistan Muslim League-N party had won four seats, according to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper. Candidates loyal to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party had won three.
Both PTI supporters and others said that early counting trends suggested the party, which had been weakened following a military crackdown, had done far better than expected. Mushahid Hussain, a rival senator for PML-N, called it “probably the biggest election upset in Pakistan’s political history”.
PTI leaders early on Friday denounced the delays, which came amid a day-long internet blackout, and what they alleged were efforts to manipulate the results and prevent them from coming to power.