ISLAMABAD: The jailed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has claimed victory in Thursday’s general election and called on his supporters to celebrate, BBC reported.

Independent candidates linked to him have won most seats so far, with the majority of seats declared.

But another ex-PM, Nawaz Sharif, says his party has emerged the largest and urges others to join him in coalition, according to BBC.

No group or party appears on course to win an overall majority. The final results are yet to be announced.

In a staunch video message posted on X created using AI, Mr Khan claimed his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had won a “landslide victory” despite what he has called a crackdown on his party, it said.

He is currently in jail having been convicted in cases he says are politically motivated.

The success of the PTI-linked candidates was unexpected, with most experts agreeing that Mr Sharif – believed to be backed by the country’s powerful military – was the clear favourite.

Against the odds, election shows Imran Khan’s support is solid

But the PTI is not a recognised party after being barred from running in the election, so technically Mr Sharif’s PML-N is the largest official political group.

So now the political horse-trading begins in earnest, which means it could still be a while before anyone is able to claim outright victory.

In a speech on Friday, Mr Sharif acknowledged that he did not have the numbers to form a government alone. But addressing supporters outside his party’s headquarters in the city of Lahore, he urged other candidates to join him in a coalition and said he could remove the country from difficult times.

Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight programme on Friday, Mr Khan’s former special assistant Zulifkar Bukhari said: “Knowing Imran Khan and knowing the ethos of our political party PTI, I don’t think we’ll be making any coalition, forming a government with any of the main parties.

“However, we will be forming a coalition… to be in parliament – not as an independent but under one banner, one party”.c

And asked about whether Mr Khan could potentially be released, Mr Bukhari said: “I think the minute we go to the high court and the supreme court we are extremely confident that he will be released, and a lot of the charges – if not all – will be thrown out on legal merit and procedural merit.”

The third biggest party appears to be the Pakistan People’s Party led by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of PM Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated in 2007.

(Inputs from BBC)