ECP yet to announce results even 15 hours after polling

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has yet to announce official results for the majority of National Assembly and provincial assembly seats, 16 hours after polls closed at 5pm on Thursday.

Local media have begun releasing unofficial election results, but the process is slow. Results from some constituencies in Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) are still pending.

Results from interior Sindh are trickling in, but the outcome in the provincial capital, Karachi, remains uncertain due to the slow pace of the results announcement. 

The fate of the central government hangs in the balance as country's largest province, Punjab still awaits official results due to inefficiency of the ECP. Similar concerns are mounting in KP and Balochistan, where results remain elusive, raising concerns about transparency.

Nearly 13 hours after polls closed, Special Secretary ECP, Zafar Iqbal finally announced the first results at a 3 am press conference in Islamabad on February 9th.

Responding to the questions about the delay, Mr Iqbal maintained that Returning Officers (RO) were compiling the results . He further denied the PTI's accusation of ECP manipulating results to influence the party's outcome.

Due to the mourning pressure from political parties, questioning the delay, ECP issued an ultimatum to all provincial election commissioners and ROs to announce results within 30 minutes or “face strict action.”

According to the unofficial results, PPP has so far won 32 seats out of 130 seats in the Sindh Assembly.

PML-N's Shehbaz Sharif secured an unofficial victory in Lahore's NA-123 constituency with 63,953 votes. Unofficial results suggest PML-N's Maryam Nawaz is leading in PP-159 Lahore with 23,598 votes.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Barrister Gohar claimed victory over 150 seats in the recent elections.