Tony Sullivan's List: Places to watch: Pakistan and South Asia

• There are unprecedented street protests in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, against the MQM, the local ruling party.

    

  The MQM tried to intimidate opponents and rig votes in the recent elections.

• Former cricketer turned populist politician Imran Khan was particularly successful in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bordering on Afghanistan, in challenging the ruling Awami National Party (ANP).

    

  The ANP solidly backed the “war on terror” and has been practically wiped out electorally.

• Sharif heading for an ultimate tally of around 110 seats that should give him the parliamentary majority
• Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) appeared to be headed for a final vote tally of around 35 seats, in line with the expectations of many analysts but far below the stratospheric expectations
• the Pakistan Peoples party (PPP), which is wildly unpopular after five tumultuous years in government, was battered at the polls. It was set to secure around 35 seats, most of them in its traditional rural strongholds in Sindh province

• One gain for Khan was in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI won enough seats to make it a leading partner in a coalition government.

  However, given the province's acute problems and struggle with Taliban militancy, it may prove a poisoned chalice for a party that has never come close to governing anything in its short history.

• The PTI in particular complained of blatant efforts to intimidate voters in Defence and Clifton, two affluent neighbourhoods in Karachi where Khan has a devoted following.

  Sana Bilal, a 28-year-old PTI supporter, said her polling station located in a school in the upscale Defence neighbourhood never even opened.

  "There were people who have been waiting outside since 8am [the official start of polling nationwide]," she said. "It was a sea of PTI supporters."

  "Everyone is just really angry that we've been deprived of our right to vote."

  The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the dominant political party in the city, was blamed for attempting to suppress voting in in a bid to prevent the PTI eating into their territory.

3 more annotations...

• , the 30 seats the PTI is projected to get is a remarkable breakthrough for a party that has only ever won one seat in parliament before.
• Khan has also been credited with politicising many of Pakistan's vast number of young people
• He also looked set to form a government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one of Pakistan's four provinces, and become the leader of the opposition in parliament after beating the ousted Pakistan People's party (PPP) into third place.

1 more annotation...