Pakistan begins releasing election results after vote marred by violence

In the 2023 general election in Pakistan, several people were killed on the day of voting. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced results for eight seats out of the 265 contested in the National Assembly by early Friday morning. The government had suspended mobile phone services before the election on Thursday due to an "internet issue." Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif secured four seats, while the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won two seats with Sadiq Ali Memons. Nawaz Sharif, a three-time former prime minister, was predicted to return to power but faced a closer contest than anticipated. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party performed well in early trends, but the delay in result announcements sparked speculations of alleged rigging. PTI-backed candidate Shoaib Shaheen won in Islamabad's NA-47 constituency with 11,729 votes. Over 128 million people were registered to vote for representatives in the National Assembly and the legislatures of Pakistan's four provinces at approximately 8 am local time (03:00 GMT) in over 90,000 polling booths.