26 July 2018
Pakistan election: Ex-cricket star Imran Khan on course for victory amid vote rigging claims
Former cricket star Imran Khan appears on course for victory in Pakistan's general election - but the official result has been delayed amid claims of vote rigging.
Votes were still being counted on Thursday, hours after supporters of Mr Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf party took to the streets to celebrate his expected win.
About half the votes had been counted more than 17 hours after polls closed, local media reported.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the party of jailed ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has called the count an "assault on democracy" in a country which has a history of military rule.
Violence has marred the election, with a suicide bombing outside a polling station in the city of Quetta on Wednesday killing at least 31 people - including five policeman and two children.
Terror group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
Election official Babar Yaqoob said counting had been delayed by technical failures in an electronic reporting system and the tallying was now being conducted manually.
"There's no conspiracy, nor any pressure in delay of the results," he said.
"The delay is being caused because the result transmission system has collapsed."
Mr Sharif's brother Shehbaz, who nows leads the PML-N, rejected the vote, calling it "sheer rigging".
"The way the people's mandate has blatantly been insulted, it is intolerable," he said.
"We totally reject this result. It is a big shock to Pakistan's democratic process."
It appears likely Tehreek-e-Insaf will fall short of the 137 seats needed to form a government, raising the prospect Mr Khan's party will have to find coalition partners.
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