PTI received the most seats, but fell short of a simple majority. Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and the late Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People's Party came next and look set to form an unwieldy, weak, and rigged coalition with six to seven smaller parties to keep PTI out, as the army desires.
The former cricket star has been in prison since August, facing trial over a slew of cases he insists have been orchestrated to prevent him from contesting the election as the figurehead of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.