What are the Pakistan election 2018 results, what were the latest polls and could Imran Khan beaten Nawaz Sharif?
The campaigning has been plagued for months by allegations the powerful armed forces have been trying to tilt the race in the favour of the cricket icon-turned-politician
PAKISTAN’S election has been marred by claims of electoral fraud and militant violence.
Soon after the polls closed it became clear who would be taking over the running of the country of 200 million.
What are the Pakistan election 2018 results?
By the morning after the July 25 election - it became clear international cricket icon Imran Khan had won a commanding lead.
With votes still to come in Khan declared himself the winner of the blood soaked election.
That result became clear after only half the votes were counted.
The parliamentary balloting marked only the second time in Pakistan's 71-year history that one civilian government has handed power to another
Who is Imran Khan?
He is a former Pakistan cricketer-turned-playboy-turned-politician, Imran Khan, and he had for years been seeking to lead Pakistan as prime minister.
This bid for the top comes more than 20 years after he turned his back on his life within London high society after he forged a career on the back of his genius cricketing and good looks.
Now 65, this election represented his best and last chance to seize the post he has craved since founding his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), or Movement for Justice, in 1996.
Khan has campaigned on an anti-corruption ticket.
He has promised an "Islamic welfare state" and cast his populist campaign as a battle to topple a predatory political elite hindering development in the impoverished nation of 208 million, where the illiteracy rate hovers above 40 per cent.
Imran's ex-wife, British heiress Jemima Goldsmith, congratulated her former partner on succeeding after 22 tough years that included "humiliations, hurdles and sacrifices".
"It's an incredible lesson in tenacity, belief & refusal to accept defeat," she tweeted
Khan has been an outspoken critic of the US-led war in neighbouring Afghanistan as well as China's massive investment in Pakistan, which has racked up millions of dollars in debt to Beijing.
But his campaigning has been plagued by allegations the powerful armed forces have been trying to tilt the race in Khan's favour after falling out with the outgoing ruling party of Sharif, who was jailed on corruption charges this month.
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What does his opponent Nawaz Sharif say about the result?
Even before half the votes were counted, Khan's leading rival Shahbaz Sharif, who heads the Pakistan Muslim League the party of jailed ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif rejected the vote.
This has lead to fears that disgruntled losers could delay the formation of the next government.
In a tweet on his official page, Sharif said "our democratic process has been pushed back by decades," adding that "had the public mandate been delivered in a fair manner, we would have accepted it happily."
Complaints have also emerged from the independent Human Rights Commission, which issued a statement saying that in some places women were not allowed to vote.
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