The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former president Asif Ali Zardari was leading on 28 seats, indicating that he could play the role of a 'kingmaker' if Pakistan ends up with a hung parliament, according to media reports.
Independents were leading on 20 seats.
Pakistanis began voting in a knife-edge general election between former cricketer Imran Khan against the party of jailed ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The voting took place on Wednesday.
The polling stations opened yesterday at 8:00 am Pakistan time.
Pakistan's election authorities have granted broad judicial powers to the powerful military at the stations during voting. Some 800,000 security personnel, including 371,388 soldiers, are dispatched across Pakistan, about three times the number during the last election in 2013.
Over 105 million registered Pakistanis will determine the fate of nearly 12,000 candidates vying for 849 national and provincial seats. As many as 120 observers from the European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) are posted throughout the country. Former Nigerian President Abdulsalami Abubakar leads the 24-member team from the Commonwealth.
