Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, has officially extended an invite to former allies to help form the next government in the backdrop of his party’s trailing position in the National Assembly seats.

“I congratulate you all since PML-N has emerged as the single largest party in this election,” said Nawaz as he began his address.

“We have to save Pakistan. I offer you all to come and help us form the next government. Shehbaz Sharif has been tasked to talk to (Asif Ali) Zardari and others including MQM-P.”

The development comes after the fifth largest democracy voted for its next government on Thursday. However, delay in election results led to criticism on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that had earlier announced to announce the results by Thursday night.