TRANSCRIPT
Votes are still being counted in Pakistan, in a general election which has been affected by the suspension of mobile phone services and violent unrest.
Currently, independents linked to ex-prime minister Imran Khan hold the highest number of seats.
But three-time former leader Nawaz Sharif has claimed his party, the PML-N, is the winner.
He says his party has emerged as the largest and would talk to other groups to form a coalition government as it had failed to win a clear majority on its own.
"Even in that case, we were going to invite our coalition partners to join us to form a government, but as we don't have enough of a majority to form a government on our own, we are going to invite allies to come and join us and we will form a coalition government.”
Mr Sharif's announcement comes after more than three-quarters of the 265 seats had declared results, more than 24 hours after polling ended.
But neither group appears to be on course to win a clear majority - despite Imran Khan also claiming election victory.
Mr Khan’s party spokesperson Rauf Hassan has accused authorities and the election commission of Pakistan of delaying the results.
"The results were from yesterday evening, they were started from there this morning and the election results started at a very slow speed, but those who were winning yesterday lost this morning, and those who were losing yesterday won them this morning. And it is not in one or two, but in many constituencies that this process is seen. At least three.”
Analysts predict there may be no clear winner, adding to the woes of a country struggling to recover from an economic crisis while it grapples with a deeply polarised political environment.
Marvin Weinbaum is the Director of Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies at the Middle East Institute.
“The feeling is that right now, the country has entered a period of great instability. And what I am suggesting is that this election which one would hope would resolve a lot of this could very well be the basis for now even deeper exposure to forces which would create instability.”
Protests have erupted because of the delays with the results and allegations of vote rigging.
Thousands of troops were deployed on the streets and at polling stations across the country ahead of the voting and the country's borders with Iran and Afghanistan were temporarily closed.
But despite the heightened security, 28 people, including two children, were killed in 56 attacks including bomb and grenade blasts and shootings by militants.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Gohar Ejaz says the government had to make decisions which were unpopular, but necessary for the safety of the public.
"Despite all precautions, 56 terrorist incidents occurred and in those 56 incidents , we lost 3 military soldiers, 2 levies soldiers , 7 policemen, and two civilians and two children. The nation needs to realize that when a government is in power, it has to make decisions for the betterment of the people. And its foremost duty s to ensure the security of the people. And this was the reason that we decided that we had to take steps to ensure the safety of our citizens, no matter how much criticism we had to face."
The United States, U-K and the European Union have all expressed concerns about Pakistan's electoral process and have called for a probe into reported irregularities.
