Polls open for Pakistani vote, security tight
Fears of violence overshadowed Pakistan's general election on Monday with 80,000 troops backing up police to watch over a vote that could return a parliament set on driving President Pervez Musharraf from office. The election was originally...
Fears of violence overshadowed Pakistan's general election on Monday with 80,000 troops backing up police to watch over a vote that could return a parliament set on driving President Pervez Musharraf from office.
The election was originally scheduled for Jan. 8 but the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto after a rally in Rawalpindi on Dec. 27 forced a delay.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. (0300 GMT) and will close at 5 p.m. (1200 GMT).
The death of Bhutto, the most progressive, Western-friendly politician in a Muslim nation rife with anti-American sentiment, raised concern about stability in the nuclear-armed state, and the vote is being keenly watched by allies and neighbours.
Voting got off to a slow start. Monday has been declared a holiday with financial markets and schools closed and traffic was very thin on roads in cities across the country.
In Rawalpindi, political party agents failed to show up on time and Election Commission officials had to wait for them to witness the sealing of ballot boxes.
"Who should we blame, the government or the parties?" said one angry man waiting to vote, Shamim Sadiq, who said he had come early because he was worried about security.
Musharraf's popularity plunged over the past year because of his manoeuvres to hold on to power which included purging the judiciary and imposing six weeks of emergency rule.
Many Pakistanis also blame the government for rising prices, shortages of staples and all too frequent power cuts.
There is a security scare in large parts of Pakistan, where Musharraf has ruled since coming to power as a general in a coup in 1999, and a suicide attack on supporters of Bhutto's party killed 47 people in a town near the Afghan border on Saturday.
Fear of violence could hurt turnout.
"You see suicide bombings everywhere and you can see the empty streets on polling day. It's all because of fear," said civil servant Mohammad Ijaz who was voting in the city of Lahore where three people were killed in shootings late on Sunday.
A supporter of the opposition party led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was killed in a shooting in Punjab province shortly after polls opened, police said. Suspected militants set off bombs at two polling stations in the
northwest before polls opened but no one was hurt.
The other worry is rigging, which could prompt opposition parties to reject the result and call for street protests, raising concern over how the powerful army would react.
The country of 160 million people has alternated between civilian and army rule throughout its 60-year history.
Otherwise, a sympathy vote is expected to help Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) become the largest party in the 342-seat National Assembly.
Results are expected to start emerging by midnight and trends should be clear on Tuesday morning.
The election was originally scheduled for Jan. 8 but the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto after a rally in Rawalpindi on Dec. 27 forced a delay.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. (0300 GMT) and will close at 5 p.m. (1200 GMT).
The death of Bhutto, the most progressive, Western-friendly politician in a Muslim nation rife with anti-American sentiment, raised concern about stability in the nuclear-armed state, and the vote is being keenly watched by allies and neighbours.
Voting got off to a slow start. Monday has been declared a holiday with financial markets and schools closed and traffic was very thin on roads in cities across the country.
In Rawalpindi, political party agents failed to show up on time and Election Commission officials had to wait for them to witness the sealing of ballot boxes.
"Who should we blame, the government or the parties?" said one angry man waiting to vote, Shamim Sadiq, who said he had come early because he was worried about security.
Musharraf's popularity plunged over the past year because of his manoeuvres to hold on to power which included purging the judiciary and imposing six weeks of emergency rule.
Many Pakistanis also blame the government for rising prices, shortages of staples and all too frequent power cuts.
There is a security scare in large parts of Pakistan, where Musharraf has ruled since coming to power as a general in a coup in 1999, and a suicide attack on supporters of Bhutto's party killed 47 people in a town near the Afghan border on Saturday.
Fear of violence could hurt turnout.
"You see suicide bombings everywhere and you can see the empty streets on polling day. It's all because of fear," said civil servant Mohammad Ijaz who was voting in the city of Lahore where three people were killed in shootings late on Sunday.
A supporter of the opposition party led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was killed in a shooting in Punjab province shortly after polls opened, police said. Suspected militants set off bombs at two polling stations in the
northwest before polls opened but no one was hurt.
The other worry is rigging, which could prompt opposition parties to reject the result and call for street protests, raising concern over how the powerful army would react.
The country of 160 million people has alternated between civilian and army rule throughout its 60-year history.
Otherwise, a sympathy vote is expected to help Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) become the largest party in the 342-seat National Assembly.
Results are expected to start emerging by midnight and trends should be clear on Tuesday morning.