Sri Lanka, Feb. 9 -- Pakistan's vote count following a general election was hit by unusual delays on Friday, with results from only a handful of national parliament seats announced over 12 hours after polls closed after the government suspended mobile phone services.

The South Asian country is struggling to recover from an economic crisis while it grapples with rising militant violence in a deeply polarised political environment.

An "internet issue" was the reason behind the delay in results, Zafar Iqbal, special secretary at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), said without elaborating.

The government said it suspended mobile phone services ahead of the election on Thursday as a security measure, and they were being partially re...