Pakistan's government parties claimed early wins while opposition groups cried foul as unofficial results poured in yesterday following the first round of Pakistan's local elections.
Political parties could not contest district council elections, but they openly showed which candidates were theirs, even if colours and symbols were barred from campaigns.
At least 16 people were killed and hundreds injured in sporadic violence during Thursday's voting.
With general elections due in 2007, parties want district leaders in place who can influence voting for seats in provincial and national assemblies.
It matters for President Pervez Musharraf, one of the West's main allies in a global war on terrorism, as he will seek re-election by the assemblies and the Senate that emerges from the vote in two years' time.
The chief minister of Punjab reckoned the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), the party backed by Musharraf, had scored a landslide in the most populous of Pakistan's four provinces.
In southern Sindh province, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a junior partner in government, was sure of wresting Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, from Islamist parties who won in 2002.
Democracy has had a sorry history in Pakistan. The military has ruled for more than half the country's 58 years since independence. General Musharraf took power in a popular and bloodless military coup in 1999, and the two civilian prime ministers from the 1990s.
The Islamist parties became the largest opposition block after scoring their largest ever gains in 2002.
The PML-Q was leading in Baluchistan, while in the North West Frontier Province the MMA's dominance has been cut by another opposition group, the Awami National Party, which wants more autonomy.
Voting was held in 53 districts nationwide, the turnout was officially put at 50 per cent. A remaining 56 districts will be contested on Thursday. Councillors elected in the first two rounds will elect powerful district chiefs on September 29, in a third and final phase of the local elections.