PAKISTANI former prime minister Nawaz Sharif claimed today that his party had won the most seats in the previous day’s general election, but not enough to form a government.

However, official results showed that independent candidates backed by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan had taken a clear lead with a surprisingly high number of seats.

As the Morning Star went to press Mr Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) had won 59 National Assembly seats, while independent candidates had 86 seats of the 266 up for grabs in the lower house.