Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) has won 17 out of the 51 seats counted so far, the country's electoral commission has said.

Independents backed by the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan have won 14 seats, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

News agency Reuters also says a total of 12 seats have been won so far by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Bilawal Bhutto, while others have been won by smaller parties or independents not linked to Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

"Serious doubts" have been raised about the credibility of the electoral process, in light of the mobile service suspension on Thursday, says one analyst.

Paris-based freelance journalist Taha Siddiqui told the BBC that despite the "hiccups, shortcomings and manipulations" of the election, PTI-backed candidates appear to be winning across the country.

"But the military has been unable to control the results completely and now there are reports that it is changing the final results to ensure PTI does not win big," Siddiqui added.

He added: "The fact that PTI took a lead despite the massive crackdown it faced is surprising. It shows that the will of the people is stronger than the will of the ruling elite."

Image source, EPA

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been projected to win the Lahore seat, five years after he left Pakistan in disgrace.

In 2019, he was allowed to post bail on health grounds. He had just been convicted of corruption and banned for life from holding public office.

Five years later, he looks set for a record-breaking fourth term as prime minister, after being allowed to come home from exile in London and run in today’s elections against the party of his detained arch-rival, Imran Khan.

Political comebacks are nothing new for Mr Sharif. In 2013, he reclaimed the premiership for a record third term after a military coup in 1999 cut short his second term.Early results however point to a surprise strong showing by Khan's PTI, Pakistani media have reported.

Read more here.

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News headlines on Friday suggest that Imran Khan-backed candidates have performed surprisingly well despite the odds stacked against them.

Unofficial tallies on local TV channels show independent candidates in the lead for many of the remaining seats up for grabs in the 266-member assembly, AFP reported.

"Independents spring surprise, PTI-backed candidates defy odds," read the headline of the English-language Express Tribune newspaper on Friday.

Minute Mirror, another English-language newspaper, led its front page with, "Independent candidates likely to turn the tables". Dawn headlined with "Early results spring big surprise".

PTI was founded by Pakistan's jailed former PM Imran Khan, who has been barred from standing. Many from his PTI party stood as independents after PTI was stripped of its iconic cricket bat symbol.

Mr Khan's popularity has not waned even from behind bars, as early results seem to show.

"There was a sense of certainty about the outcome," Sarah Khan, an assistant professor of political science at Yale University, told AFP.

"That sense of certainty got upset very early on," she added. "It's definitely not the foregone conclusion that anybody thought it might be."

The electorion commission had announced results for just 37 National Assembly seats by 10:30 local time, nearly 18 hours after polling stations closed.

UN secretary-general António Guterres has urged people in Pakistan to refrain from violence as vote counting is underway.

"As Pakistan awaits the results of the elections, the secretary-general encourages all political leaders and society segments to maintain a calm atmosphere, as well as refrain from the use of violence and any actions that could increase tensions," the UN's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"It is important for all candidates and supporters to ensure that human rights and the rule of law are fully respected in the interest of the Pakistani people and [to] resolve any disputes that might arise through established legal procedures," Dujarric added.

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The decision to strip Imran Khan’s PTI party of their cricket bat symbol was initially seen as a huge blow to the group - whose candidates had to run as independents, using other symbols.

Symbols are especially important to the 41% of Pakistan’s 241m population who are illiterate.

The PTIs symbol - a cricket bat - is synonymous with Imran Khan himself. A huge cricket star who led the country to its first cricket World Cup in 1992.

Despite losing their symbol, early projections by Pakistani media point to a stronger than expected results for PTI.

Nawaz Sharif's PML-N uses a tiger symbol while Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s PPP uses an arrow.

The website of the electoral body lists 174 symbols that are still up for grabs, including the following - calculator, electric heater, human eye, nail cutter, penguin, sickle, stethoscope and typewriter.

Independent candidates backed by former prime minister Imran Khan have won 21 out of 50 seats in the country's national elections according to counting completed so far, Pakistan's Geo News has reported.

The two PM candidates Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have also won their respective seats in Lahore and Larkana, according to reports.

Results are still trickling in after counting delays which the electoral body has attributed to an "internet issue". A political party needs 133 seats in parliament for a simple majority.

A stable government, which has long eluded Pakistan, is consequential for both its 241 million people and the rest of the world.

Its people worry about their next meal due to painfully high inflation, which came in at 28.3% one month before the vote. This reflects an economy that has been pushed to the brink by decades of corruption and political instability. A conditional $3bn (£2.3bn) bailout from the IMF is a stop-gap measure at best, analysts have said.

The winner of this election will also need to deal with the country’s recent tit-for-tat missile strikes with Iran, with both Islamabad and Tehran claiming to target militant groups along their border.

Then there’s Pakistan’s long-running rivalry with India, its love-hate relationship with the US and its close ties with China. Whoever comes to power in this nuclear-armed state matters.

Image source, Getty Images

Saher Baloch
Pakistan Election Commission HQ, Islamabad

The election commission's spokeswoman Nighat Siddiq has given assurances that “results will come pouring in soon.”

"We have to ensure that we leave no space for error," she tells the BBC.

When asked her if the delay in results was due to an the alleged conflict between the returning officers and the commission, she replied: “Not at all. We are trying to get it right. I’ll ask everyone to look at the glass as half full.”

Some Pakistanis believe that the returning officers are holding back the results as an act of defiance, or because of fears that the results will be tampered with.

Earlier, the commission's special secretary Zafar Iqbal attributed the vote count delay to an “internet issue”.

Imran Khan's PTI party has alleged that the delay in counting is an indication that the results are being doctored.

And given "the military’s past track record of meddling in elections, it's insistence that PTI not return to power, and its increasingly overt presence in politics over the last year or so, the PTI’s allegations need to be taken seriously," says Michael Kugelman, the South Asia Institute Director of the Wilson Centre think tank based in Washington.

Khan himself was jailed and barred from running, the PTI's election symbol was taken away from it, and many of its members and supporters thrown into jail.

He added that "the long delay in releasing the results, coupled with early indications that Khan’s PTI party performed well, suggest that some funny business could be playing out."

"Remember, the military is the most powerful political player in Pakistan, and it is dead set against the PTI having a chance to return to power. If it wants to intervene in the electoral process to prevent the outcome, no one can or will stop it.

"It seems very unlikely that the election will restore stability in Pakistan. On the contrary the country could be plunged into a new phase of turmoil."

Saher Baloch
Pakistan Election Commission HQ, Islamabad

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was supposed to announce the results with their newly acquired Election Management System (EMS).

But this system could not operate fully due to the suspension of mobile data networks across Pakistan.

As a result, the wall in the Election Comission's main control room shows only 13 results announced for the National Assembly seats so far while 252 results are still awaited.

The entire room is full of journalists and ECP officials. The ECP is trying to get the figures out after a delay of almost 10 hours.

Usually, once voting ends at 17:00 local time, results would start coming in after midnight, by around 01:00, providing a clear picture of who is winning and losing.

There are two major contenders vying for seats in the 336-seat National Assembly, the upper house of Parliament - the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), previously the largest party in preceding elections, has fielded its candidates as independents after the Supreme Court disallowed the use of their cricket bat symbol. This is a huge blow in a country where many voters are unable to read and rely on party symbols when voting.

Pakistan has a first-past-the-post electoral system, with 266 seats up for grabs. A total of 169 seats are needed for a majority - a further 60 seats are reserved for women elected by proportional representation. Ten seats are reserved for non-Muslims elected by the same process.

The prime minister, usually the leader of the majority party, is elected by the National Assembly. However no one party is expected to gain a majority, which will likely lead to “coalitional politicking”, says Burzine Waghmar of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Image source, EPA

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) or PML-N. He is the frontrunner. A development no-one would have forseen six years ago, when a corruption scandal forced him into self-imposed exile at a luxury apartment in London. Many have speculated that he is back in the army’s good graces after all charges against him were dropped and a ban on him seeking public office was struck down just in time for the elections.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). The Oxford-educated 35-year-old is the son of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto - assassinated in 2007 - and former president Asif Ali Zardari. He served as foreign minister in the coalition government that followed Imran Khan's ouster in 2022.

But the politician who has generated the most conversation this election, is a candidate who is actually not on the ballot. Imran Khan has been in jail since last year but polling shows he still enjoys high levels of support. Last week, he was handed two jail sentences over two days, as part of a raft of corruption charges that he says are politically motivated. Members of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) still contested as independent candidates,

Almost 16 hours after polls closed in Pakistan, voters are still waiting to find out which party will form the next government and who will lead it.

The delay has been widely criticised by opposition parties, with ex-prime minister Imran Khan's PTI party alleging vote rigging.

The Interior Ministry, has said that the delay is down to a "lack of communication", which was the result of precautions taken to ensure a "foolproof" security situation.

This refers to a decision taken by authorities to shut off mobile networks 10 minutes before voting started.

"The situation is now satisfactory and results are expected to be flowing in continuously."

Results are trickling in from across Pakistan which went to the polls yesterday.

Votes are counted by hand - here is a video of how that process happens.

Image source, EPA

Thursday's general election was marred by the suspension of mobile phone services and violent unrest.

The government said mobile services were suspended for security reasons, following attacks aimed at disrupting the vote which, the military says, left at least nine people dead.

Two separate bomb attacks on candidates' offices in Balochistan also killed at least 28 people on Wednesday.

Both calls and data services were cut just 10 minutes before voting started

Results have also been slow to come out, prompting the Election Commission to warn local officials to speed up the process.

The party of disqualified and jailed ex-PM Imran Khan says the delay is a sign of vote-rigging.

Joel Guinto
Live page reporter, Singapore

Welcome to our live coverage of Pakistan’s general election.

Results have begun to trickle in after yesterday’s vote. Experts say the counting has been slower compared to previous elections.

It is unclear when we could see a clear result. Both the parties of ex-prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have claimed victory even though only a small number of results have been announced.

The interior ministry says the delays were caused by communication issues. Yesterday, authorities switched off mobile phone services to ensure the security of the exercise.

Sharif is tipped to win a fourth term after finding himself back in the powerful military’s good graces. But Khan who is in jail, remains a formidable force even if his name is not on the ballot and notwithstanding the many hurdles that his party’s candidates have had to face. His party is doing well in some provinces.

Stay with us as we bring you updates and analysis from our correspondents on the ground in Pakistan and from our team in Singapore.