His party has dented the two-party system long dominated by the Pakistan Muslim League-N and the outgoing Pakistan People's Party and could steal votes from both.
Nawaz Sharif, who leads the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and is tipped to be Pakistan's next prime minister, made an impassioned plea to crowds in Lahore just minutes before midnight on Thursday.
Mr. Sharif heads the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the rival to Mr. Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.
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Though the new government, elected through the May 11 polls, won't be in place, Mr. Li will meet prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif, who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the rival to Mr. Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.
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Though the new government, elected through the May 11 polls, will not be in place, Mr. Li will meet prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif, who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the rival to Mr. Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.
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Another 23 percent chose Nawaz Sharif, a former Pakistani prime minister and head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N party.
Meanwhile opposition leader and former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced Monday that his Pakistan Muslim League-N party will participate in elections.
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Former Prime Minister Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N Party was the big winner in the election and appears set to form the next government.
Many analysts consider former Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party to be the front runner in the election, but Khan has emerged as a wildcard.
The PPP's main contender is the Pakistan Muslim League-N, headed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who spent years living in exile Saudi Arabia.
He and half his colleagues were withdrawn from the cabinet in May by the PPP's biggest coalition partner, Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N).
It means that both the PPP and, especially, the other main party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), led by Nawaz Sharif, have a bank of religious-minded voters whom they must be careful not to offend.
Mr. Shah said that JUI-F was particularly strong in the south of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and predicted it would make gains along with Pakistan Muslim League-N, the conservative party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which is popular in the non-Pashtun parts of the province.
Musharraf's party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q), conceded defeat and the main opposition parties -- PPP and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) - together emerged with a majority in the 342-member lower house of the National Assembly (NA).
Both Mr. Sharif's PML-N and Mr. Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf draw much of their support from Punjab, the country's wealthiest province, and the election was particularly hard-fought in Lahore, the provincial capital and the country's second largest city.
Pakistan native Shahid Khan started auto parts company Flex-N-Gate and bought the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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Competing drafts, sponsored by the United Kingdom and Pakistan, are expected to be considered by the U.N.
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"Last year ... 4 million people worldwide lost their homes, out of which you have half a million displaced in Pakistan, " said Manuel Bessler, a top U.N. official in Islamabad.
Permitted by Musharraf to return to Pakistan last year, Sharif is now banking the PML-N's fortunes on a platform of renewing the country's top judiciary -- removed by Musharraf during a state of emergency.
Israel did not cooperate with the U.N. three-person mission, whose members are from France, Pakistan and Botswana.
Pakistan is believed to have between 30 and 40 nuclear warheads, according to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
According to the country's election commission, PML-N was confirmed as the winner in 123 constituencies out of the 272, former ruling Pakistan People's Party in 37 and Mr. Khan's PTI in 26.
"Afghanistan will feel the change that Pakistan now has a strong and popular government, " Sartaj Aziz, a member of the PML (N)'s powerful central executive committee and a former foreign minister during Mr Sharif's second term, told the BBC.
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