Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party was slightly ahead in early election results on Friday, after vote counts were hit by unusual delays that the government ascribed to a suspension of mobile phone services, Ednews reports citing Reuters.

By 0600 GMT, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced 47 results for the 265 contested seats in the National Assembly, with Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) winning 17 and supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan 14.

Twelve seats were taken by the Pakistan Peoples Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated premier Benazir Bhutto, it said. The rest were won by small parties or non-aligned independents.

Khan is in jail and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was barred from Thursday's election, so his supporters contested as independents.

Analysts have predicted there may be no clear winner in the election, adding to the woes of a country struggling to recover from an economic crisis while it grapples with rising militant violence in a deeply polarised political environment.