Pakistan's political parties yesterday began negotiating to form the next government after Thursday's general election resulted in a hung verdict.

Both Khan and his main rival, three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, declared victory on Friday, increasing uncertainty over who will form the next government at a time when swift policy action is needed to address multiple challenges.

Gohar Khan, the chairman of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf (PTI) party who also acts as the former prime minister's lawyer, called on "all institutions" in Pakistan to respect his party's mandate.

At a press conference, he said if complete results of the polls were not released by night, the party would hold peaceful protests today outside government offices returning election results around the country.

"We will not be aligning with any major party to set up a hodgepodge government in the Centre. We have learned from our previous tenure that having a compromised government with allies means being blackmailed daily," he said.

Sharif said on Friday his party had emerged as the single largest group and would talk to other groups to form a coalition government.

He hinted at joining hands with the PPP, JUI-F, MQM, PML-Q and IPP to forge a PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) style alliance that governed the country after Imran Khan was ousted in 2022.

Analysts had predicted there may be no clear winner, adding to the woes of a country struggling to recover from an economic crisis while it grapples with rising militant violence in a deeply polarised political environment.

Till filing this report at 10:00pm, results were still not in for 9 of the 265 seats contested in the election. Polling in one seat of the 266 directly elected seats of the National Assembly was postponed due to the death of a candidate.

The latest tally, posted on the election commission's website, showed independent candidates had won 100 seats, with Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) taking 73 seats.

According to Dawn, one of the leading dailies in Pakistan, 93 of the victorious independent candidates were backed by Khan and his party.

Khan's supporters were running as independents because they had been barred from the polls by the election commission for not complying with electoral laws.

Despite the ban and Khan's imprisonment for convictions on charges ranging from leaking state secrets to corruption to an unlawful marriage, millions of the former cricketer's supporters came out to vote for him.

However, under Pakistan's electoral laws, independent candidates are not eligible for 70 reserved seats, which are allotted according to the strength of each party in the house. Sharif's party could get up to 20 of these seats.

Khan's close aide and media adviser, Zulfi Bukhari, told Reuters the party would announce within the next day (Sunday) the party banner they will ask independents to join, in a bid to claim the rights to form the next government.

In Pakistan, independent candidates cannot form a government on their own and need to join a party.

Whoever seeks to form the next government would need support from other parties with no one close to the seat threshold for a simple majority in parliament.

Currently, there are a total of 336 seats in Pakistan's National Assembly. Of these, 266 are filled by direct elections. Besides, the Pakistan constitution reserves 10 seats for religious minorities and 60 seats for women. A party needs to win 134 seats to win a majority.

Besides Khan and Sharif, the Pakistan Peoples Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated premier Benazir Bhutto, remains a major player with at least 54 seats.

The rest were won by small parties and other independents. This sets up a period of intense political negotiations over the next few days before a parliamentary vote to elect a new prime minister and government can take place.

The horse-trading has already begun, with Nawaz Sharif's younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif meeting late on Friday kingmaker and former president, Asif Ali Zardari, and his son, Bilawal.

'STABLE HANDS'

Pakistan's army chief congratulated the country yesterday for the "successful conduct" of the election, saying the nation needed "stable hands" to move on from the politics of "anarchy and polarisation".

The military remains the country's most powerful institution and has for decades had a huge role in making and breaking governments. Khan accuses the military of a crackdown on him and his party. The military denies this.

The United States, Britain and the European Union on Friday each expressed concerns about the electoral process, urging a probe into reported irregularities.

Analysts say there are two possible scenarios after the announcement of preliminary results.

"The most likely scenario is a coalition government that includes all political parties – minus the PTI," Khan told Al Jazeera. This will include the two largest political parties, PPP and PMLN, as well as MQM, Jamaat-e-Islami and others.

"The second scenario, less likely but technically possible, is the PPP joining hands with the PTI and forming a government," the analyst said.

He said not many people in Pakistan believe in the legitimacy of the next government amid allegations of rigging and this will imply the political and economic stability of Pakistan.

"Political stability will elude Pakistan for some time to come," he said.