Pakistan's Sharif eyes coalition amid rival claims of election victory

ISLAMABAD -- Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party aims to form a coalition government after elections marred by violence, allegations of unfair play and competing claims of victory.

Results of Thursday's vote were initially expected by 1 a.m. local time on Friday but were still being tallied on Saturday. By around 4:30 a.m., it was clear that no single party would win an outright majority of the 265 contested National Assembly seats. The election commission's provisional results for 250 constituencies showed the PML-N winning 71, while independents -- most of them backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan -- had 99.