Islamabad: Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N has emerged as the single largest party in Pakistan’s landmark general elections with 122 of the 272 Parliamentary seats but fell short of a majority and would form a government with support of independents and smaller parties.
The PML-N’s two closest rivals – the Pakistan People’s Party and Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf – lagged far behind with 31 and 26 seats, respectively.
The Election Commission announced the results for only 250 parliamentary seats, saying results were awaited from 18 constituencies in Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh provinces and the tribal areas.
Earlier, trends emerging from the counting of votes had shown that the PML-N led by former premier Sharif was set to bag about 125 seats.
A total of 137 directly elected seats is needed for a majority and the PML-N is expected to form government at the centre with the backing of independent candidates and one or two smaller parties.
Another 70 seats, reserved for women and non-Muslims, will be allocated to parties according to their performance in the polls.
To have a majority in the 342-member National Assembly, a party or coalition will need 172 seats.
The Senate or upper house of the parliament is currently controlled by the PPP.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which had been a key partner in the last PPP-led government, bagged 16 seats while Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam won 10 seats in the National Assembly.
The Jamaat-e-Islami and PML-F won three seats each while the PML-Q, formed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and National People’s Party bagged two seats each.
The Awami National Party, Qaumi Watan Party-Sherpao, Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan, Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League, Awami Muslim League, Balochistan National Party, National Party and PML-Z won one seat each. Independent candidates bagged 25 seats.
Pak Ambassador to US resigns after PPP’s defeat in polls
Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s envoy to the US, today resigned following the defeat of the Pakistan People’s Party in last week’s general elections.
Congratulating the new parliament on its election, Rehman sent in her resignation to the caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, Pakistan Embassy spokesman Nadeem Hotiana said in a message posted on Twitter.
Another message on Twitter quoted Rehman as saying: “It is time a new envoy comes in as quickly as possible so that there is no gap in the relationship.”
Rehman, 52, a close aide of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, was appointed to the post by the PPP-led government in 2011.
She replaced Husain Haqqani who was forced to quit over a controversy regarding a mysterious memo seeking American help to stave off a possible military coup in Pakistan following the killing of Osama bin Laden in a US military raid.
A senior leader of the PPP and a former aide to slain party chief Benazir Bhutto, Rehman had also served as Information Minister in the PPP-led government.
Several other envoys appointed by the outgoing government are expected to quit following the PML-N’s victory in the May 11 polls, which marked the first democratic transition of power in Pakistan’s history. (PTI)