Pakistan’s New Leader Faces Financial Reckoning

Newcomer Imran Khan is poised to become prime minister of a country that will likely to need a bailout

Former cricket star Imran Khan claimed victory in a sharply contested election in Pakistan, the second ever transfer of power between civilian governments in the country's history. Here's what could be next for the fragile democracy. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Imran Khan is a newcomer to power in Pakistan, but his first challenge is a familiar one for the country: a crushing financial crunch that will likely require an international bailout and spending cutbacks.

After decades on Pakistan’s political fringe, nearly complete results show that Mr. Khan’s party took more than twice as many seats in parliament as its main competitor, whose highest profile leader is the now-jailed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

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