Khan supporters block roads after poll results

QUETTA, Pakistan: Thousands of supporters of Pakistan's imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan and members of other political parties blocked key highways and started a daylong strike in the South Asian country's volatile southwest on Monday to protest alleged rigging of last week's elections.

Thursday's vote to choose a new parliament was overshadowed by the vote-rigging allegations, an unprecedented mobile phone shutdown, and the exclusion of Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice or PTI) party from the vote.

While election winners were celebrating their victory, PTI and other parties refused to accept their defeat in dozens of constituencies.

Dozens of Khan's supporters were briefly detained in the eastern city of Lahore over the weekend while protesting the alleged vote-rigging.

Jan Achakzai, a government spokesman in southwestern Baluchistan province, urged protesters to «show grace» by accepting defeat and moving away from the highways.

Khan could not run in the election because of the criminal convictions against him that he says are politically motivated.

Still, candidates backed by Khan won more seats than the political parties that ousted him from power nearly two years ago, according to the final tally published on Sunday.

No party won a majority, however, so the parties will have to hold talks on forming a coalition government. The new parliament chooses the country's next prime minister.

Candidates aligned with Khan secured 101 out of 266 seats in the National Assembly, or the lower chamber of the legislature.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N party, led by three-time premier and ex-felon Nawaz Sharif, secured 75. He is currently in talks with allies to form a coalition government.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), led by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, came in third with 54 seats. One result has been withheld and another vote was postponed because of a candidate's death. The campaign to kick Khan out of office in 2022 was led by the PML-N and the PPP.

Pakistan's military has always cast itself as the ultimate arbiter of who becomes prime minister, and Sharif was marked out as the powerful security establishment's preferred candidate