The party with the biggest number of seats gets the first crack at forming a coalition. All permutations are possible but many expect those smaller parties that took part in the last coalition alongside the Pakistan People’s Party to switch sides and move to the PML-N. Pakistan is the sort of country where ideology can be quickly set aside at the whiff of power. Of course, it won’t be that simple. And the horsetrading and shady deals could take weeks to solidify into a government. One question will be whether Imran Khan, who has campaigned against what he sees as the corruption of the major parties, would make a deal or take the principled route into opposition.