Polls have closed across Pakistan in the national election of a third straight civilian government in the Islamic nation.
The leading contenders are former cricket star Imran Khan and his right-of-centre Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) and the right-of-centre Pakistan Muslim League, the party of disgraced prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif is in jail serving 10 years on corruption charges and his younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, has taken control of the party.
He is the son of late prime minister Benazir Bhutto, assassinated by Pakistan’s Taliban militants, whom she had vowed to eradicate.
