Pakistan elections: Against the odds, Khan's PTI proves support is solid - BBC News

Pakistan's vote saw candidates aligned to the former PM spring a surprise, writes Caroline Davies.

2 days agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, ReutersBy Caroline Davies in LahorePakistan correspondentToday's results are both clear and complicated.

Independent candidates - many of whom would have run under the banner of the PTI party but were prevented from doing so - have taken the largest number of seats.

However the PML-N, led by pre-election frontrunner Nawaz Sharif, can currently claim to be the largest party.

What is clear is that Imran Khan's PTI party has proved that its popularity is not a social media bubble, but has a real and committed support base.

It came into this election with its founder disqualified and in prison (he is already serving a three-year sentence for corruption, and has been handed further jail terms in recent weeks), and its cricket bat symbol removed from the ballot - an electoral blow in a country with low literacy rates.

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