The main battle was expected to be between candidates backed by Khan, whose party won the Fatah movement in the last national elections, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Sharif. Khan believes the powerful military is behind a crackdown to drive his party out of existence, while analysts and opponents say Sharif has the support of the generals.
The military dominated the nuclear-armed state directly or indirectly during its 76 years of independence, but it stressed for several years that it did not interfere in politics.
Sharif, considered by many observers to be a strong candidate, denied talk of an unclear result.
“Don't talk about a coalition government. “It is very important that the government gets a clear majority… It should not depend on others,” he told reporters on Thursday after casting his vote in the eastern city of Lahore.
PTI candidates contested the elections as independents after the Supreme Court and Election Commission said they could not use the party's symbol – a cricket bat. In Pakistan, parties use symbols to help illiterate voters find them on ballot papers. PTI was unable to hold rallies or open campaign offices, and its online events were banned, moves it considered unfair.
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Senator Mushahid Hussain, a member of Sharif's party, described the media statistics as “possibly the biggest electoral surprise in Pakistan's political history” in the past 50 years. Withholding the results was a recipe for disaster, he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Competition is underway for 266 seats in the National Assembly, in addition to 70 seats reserved for women and minorities. If no party wins an outright majority, the party with the largest share of seats can form a coalition government.
Sharif returned to the country last October after four years of self-imposed exile abroad to avoid serving a prison sentence. Within weeks of his return, his conviction was overturned, leaving him free to run for a fourth term in office.
