Pakistan election results: Rival parties each claim advantage as ...

I just spoke with Rafiullah Kakar, a political analyst based in Islamabad, who explains the independents will have three days to join the party they want.

At present, independent candidates are leading with the number of seats secured in the National Assembly. And out of these, the majority are PTI backed candidates.

But as per the electoral commission (ECP) rules, independents are expected to join the party whose symbol was assigned to them during their registration.

Since the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is not functional and its leader is in jail, PTI loyalists will potentially have to join another political party.

Both the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz party (PML-N) have shown interest in luring independents towards their parties.

Rafiullah says there are “two possible scenarios" for the independents, one which involves forming "an alliance with PPP and another small party", and another which may see "these independent candidates be allowed to join the PTI”.

Rafiullah adds: “It’s a fragmented mandate where none of the parties have a simple majority. And yet they will have to find a common ground or form a coalition to exist.”