Former cricketer Imran Khan has claimed victory in Pakistan’s election, amid accusations of vote rigging by rivals.
In a television address, he said: “We were successful and we were given a mandate.”
His PTI party is still expected to fall short of an overall majority, so it would have to seek coalition partners in order to form a government.
Campaigning has been marred by violence. On voting day a bomb killed 31 people at a polling station.
Mr Khan, the charismatic patrician who captained Pakistan to a World Cup victory in 1992, has long shed his celebrity playboy image and has recently faced accusations that his election challenge was benefiting from military interference in the nuclear-armed republic.
An official confirmation of the vote is still to come.
