Both Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan claim victory in Pakistan’s national elections

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday claimed victory in national elections, saying that his political party has emerged as the largest in the vote and will discuss forming a coalition government.

Later, Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan also 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, which is usually delivered by word through his lawyers, 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.

Sharif did not disclose how many seats his party had won and counting was still underway in the last few of the 265 seats that went to the polls.

The latest count published by the election panel showed his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) winning 61 seats, much below the 133 mark needed to stake claim to form a government.

Sharif said his party alone does not have the seats needed but his deputies will meet leaders of other parties later in the day, including former president Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party, to discuss forming a coalition government.