Pakistan election: Khan, Sharif both claim victory

Pakistan's jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed victory in the country's general election in an audio-visual message created using artificial intelligence and shared on his X social media account.

In the message, Khan rejected rival Nawaz Sharif's earlier claim to victory. Khan called on his supporters to celebrate a win that was achieved despite what he calls a crackdown on his party.

Independent candidates backed by Khan won the most seats in Thursday's national election, despite him being in jail and his party barred from the polls.

Ex-PM Nawaz Sharif declares victory, but trails Khan loyalists

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has claimed victory in national elections, with his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party emerging with the largest share of the vote.

Pakistan's Election Commission said official results showed that independent seats backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had won around 70 of the 265 seats being contested.

However, the biggest party standing directly was PML-N on 60 seats — well short of the 133 needed to achieve a majority.

Sharif said it would have been good to have obtained a clear majority, but that it was clear that his party didn't have the numbers to govern outright.

He said he would reach out to the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which has so far notched up about 40 seats, to speak about a possible coalition.

"We can’t hold elections again and again," he said in comments carried by Pakistan's Dawn news outlet.

"All the institutions in this country, every one, should together play a positive role in bringing Pakistan out of this crisis," Nawaz said.

"This is everyone’s Pakistan, not just PML-N’s. Everyone should sit in harmony and bring Pakistan out of the difficulties."