UPDATE - Amid hung Parliament, Pakistan's 3-time Premier Sharif calls for 'unity government'

UPDATES WITH MORE COMMENTS BY NAWAZ SHARIF, STATEMENT FROM PAKISTAN TEHREEK-E-INSAF

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan's three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called for a "unity government" on Friday, as election results released by the electoral authority indicated a hung federal government.

In his first public speech in the northeastern city of Lahore following Thursday's critical elections, Sharif said the "only solution" to the simmering political and economic crises is for "all political parties to join hands and form a unity government."

"Pakistan can no longer afford the politics of confrontation. We are not in the mood to fight with anyone. That's why I offer all political parties to come together and steer the country out of the predicaments it is facing," Sharif said.

Senior Sharif said he has tasked his brother and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, to contact different political parties, including the center-left Pakistan People's Party (PPP), in this regard from "today."

According to preliminary results, independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan have won 92 seats, followed by PML (N) 66, and the PPP 49 out of a total 266 direct seats of the National Assembly.

The former prime minister invited all parties as well as independent candidates who received a mandate in the elections.

He did not name the PTI but did invite independent candidates who won the election to join the proposed unity government.

Although the Election Commission of Pakistan has not yet announced the final results, Nawaz Sharif claimed that the PML-N has "emerged as the single largest" party in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament.

Without naming longtime archrival India, he said he wants good relations with all nations, including neighbors.

- 'Be loyal' PTI asks lawmakers as it claims victory

Meanwhile, PTI spokesman Rauf Hassan claimed at a press conference on Friday that his party has won a majority to form governments in the center as well as in eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

The PML-N has emerged as the single largest party in the Punjab Assembly, clinching 142 out of a total 297 direct seats, followed by PTI-affiliated independents, who won 124, according to preliminary results.

The PML-N is eligible for a share of seats reserved for women and religious minorities in both national and provincial assemblies as they contested elections with uniform electoral symbols, whereas independents are not.

In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the PTI-backed independents have won a two-thirds majority.

As senior Sharif extended an invitation to independent candidates, the PTI urged its affiliated lawmakers to remain loyal to the party and Khan "under all circumstances."

PTI chief organizer Omar Ayub Khan, in a post on X, accused the election commission authorities of "changing results under duress."

"You received a historic number of votes in the name of PM Imran Khan and as Chief Organizer, I will enforce discipline in the party ranks under all circumstances," he said.

PTI-backed independent candidates, he claimed, will form the federal and provincial governments.

"All members will be issued instructions. May Allah be your guide and protector," he said.