Pakistan election - LIVE: Major party accuses authorities of 'deliberately' stopping people from voting
As it happened: Here's how the events of the day unfolded
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Pakistan has voted in a historic general election, after a bitter and violent campaign left the country highly polarised.
Voters were deciding between the former cricket legend and playboy Imran Khan, and the party of ex-leader Nawaz Sharif, who has been jailed on corruption charges that he says are politically motivated.
Fears of violence in the build-up to polling day have proved founded, as Isis claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that left 32 dead in Quetta. But in many parts of the country, people have travelled to vote regardless of the security issues.
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load
Mr Khan's PTI party has positioned itself as an anti-corruption vehicle of change - but Mr Sharif's PML-N has accused him of being the military's candidate. With the race expected to be tight, independents and other smaller parties - like the PPP led by the son of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto - could yet play a key role in coalition.
Wednesday's vote was to be the first time Pakistan has ever achieved a second democratic transition of power in a row. Throughout its history, the country has oscillated between military and civilian rule.
Yet while that should be being hailed as an unprecedented landmark of stability for the nation, there have long been warning signs in a campaign that has been one of the most dangerous and distasteful in modern history.
From social media to the streets, the vicious nature of the campaign polarised Pakistani society into supporters of Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) party, and the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) of Mr Sharif.
The chief election commissioner (CEC), retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza, on Tuesday assured voters that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was “trying its best to hold free, fair and unbiased elections”.
In a video message released by the election body, Mr Raza urged voters to fulfil their “duty towards the nation” by casting their votes calmly and responsibly on polling day.
Polling began at 8am local time, and concluded at 6pm. While one side or the other might claim victory as early as Wednesday night, official results could take up the three days to tally.
The Quetta bombing death toll has risen to 32, according to officials
Cricket legend and election hopeful Imran Khan may have his vote cancelled, Pakistan's Express News TV channel is reporting.
The electoral commission is investigating the PTI leader's vote after it was captured on video, thereby violating the commission's regulations on the "secrecy of the ballot".
Journalists in Lahore are complaining that they have not been allowed to enter some polling stations to perform their professional duty.
Osama Qureshi told The Independent: "I was assigned to perform election duty reporting on the different polling stations in the Lahore NA 124 [district], but I was stopped by a security person from entering the polling stations."
A video shared with The Independent by Qureshi and another journalist, Azeem Butt, shows police refusing to let them taking phones or cameras in to report at the polling station, citing "high-up orders".
Butt said: "I tried to enter the polling station but police officials stopped me and my other colleagues, even when we show them our authority letters and cards from the Election Commission of Pakistan. They said they have orders from 'high-up' and they will not allow us to enter the polling station.
"No one knows what is happening inside the polling stations," he added.
This morning, Maija Liuhto went out and about in Islamabad’s upscale F-6 neighbourhood for The Independent. She reports that voting started off slowly, though it is picking up around now.
Shaheen Malik, a retired World Bank employee, had come to cast her vote at a public girls’ school where EU observers were also present.
“There’s no line here, just one woman before me,” she said.
“I think in urban areas more people will come out and the turnout will be good. But in rural areas, I don’t think people are that conscious or vote so much,” she said.
“Ten years ago we didn’t have so much [access to] internet and people didn’t know much but now we can read the bio of every candidate [online] and people are more aware.”
Sofia, a 32-year-old telecom engineer, had come to vote for Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
“He has unique thinking which nobody has had ever before. I will admit that last time I was much more excited to vote. A couple of things happened over the last few years which kind of swayed me,” she said. “The scandals kept coming up. Of course, if you trust somebody with running a country, you want to have someone more dependable than that.”
“Other than that, I think he’s had a great education; he’s not corrupt – so far,” she laughed. “He’s the best candidate for right now.”
The army was present both inside and outside the polling station, but they appeared to be sticking to their security duties.
“I felt safer, frankly,” Sofia said.
Sofia’s mother Kausar said she had also come to vote for Pakistan and change, referring to Mr Khan’s PTI. She was also not concerned about the military’s presence.
“If we are forced to use the army, it is the governments who have failed. If they were performing well, the army wouldn’t have to do anything,” she said.
Islamabad’s F-6 is also home to a small Christian minority who live in slum-like conditions.
Yasir Yusuf, a 33-year-old chef, had decided to vote for PTI, despite concerns about Khan’s perceived closeness to extremist Islamist parties.
“We are concerned, but when you are a minority you become meaner; we just think for ourselves,” he said.
“We are too little and this country is too big. I really want to vote for my country, not only for this small minority.”
According to Yusuf, Khan had expressed willingness to support his community.
“Especially for the slums in Islamabad; the previous government tried to get rid of them.”
Not everyone in the Christian community was convinced by PTI, however.
“He is not interested in our rights if I tell you the truth,” said Nadeem Masih, 30.
According to him, most people in the neighbourhood vote for the jailed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
“They got us electricity meters and promised they would get us gas,” he said.
The PML-N has formally requested the Pakistan election commission extend voting by an hour, in light of delays in "almost all constituencies".
Voters around the country have generally been complaining that the process to cast the vote is slow, taking each person around four to five minutes in the voting booth.
Gul Zaid Chaudhary, a voter in Taxila, Punjab, said the delay was down to slow processing by polling staff. "I waited in line almost 40-45 minutes, and behind me a long line was waiting," he said.
In Lahore, at a technical college, voters were not being allowed to enter in the polling station altogether. An official said they were letting people in one by one but female voters present outside the polling station said that no one had been let in for half an hour.
Candidates are also complaining, with one of the PTI's strongest female candidates, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, alleging that the polling process was deliberately delayed in Sialkot.
Begum Kulsoom Sharif, the mother of former premier Nawaz Sharif and current PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, has arrived at the Islamia College Railway Road to cast her vote in the NA-124 constituency.
There was something of a standoff between security personnel and supporters of the Sharif family, who chanted slogans in support of Nawaz Sharif. Security officers appeared to object to Ms Sherif approaching the polling station in a car.
Vote 'deliberately slowed' by authorities - claim
Speaking to The Independent, the central media coordinator for PML-N Muhammad Mendi says that polling station managers in Lahore and Faisalabad are deliberately creating "hurdles" to stop "our voters wearing the sher (lion) symbol".
He said authorities were deliberately slowing down polling "everywhere in Pakistan, but mostly in the Lahore".
The electoral commission has nonetheless rejected a formal request from PML-N to extend voting time by an hour. We've acquired the letter that was sent to the commission - here it is in full:
Police in Pakistan say more clashes between rival political parties have killed another person and wounded 15 across the country.
Officer Nasir Ahmed says supporters of the Pakistan Muslim League and Tahrik-e-Insaf parties clashed during the polling on Wednesday in the city of Khanewal, in Punjab province, firing shots and hurling clubs and stones at each other.
Ahmed says four people were taken to hospital with bullet wounds and one of them died. He said 12 people were arrested.
Supporters of the two political parties also clashed elsewhere in Punjab, injuring over a dozen people. There were also skirmishes among political activists in various towns in southern Sindh province but no casualties were reported there. Videos of minor scuffles outside various polling stations have been circulated on social media.
Earlier in the day, shooting between supporters of two rival parties left one person dead and wounded two in a village near the northwestern city of Swabi.
The head of the European Union's observer mission in Pakistan has condemned the bombing outside a polling station in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, that officials say killed 32 people.
Michael Gahler says 120 EU observers are at 40 polling stations throughout the country as the nation votes but not in Baluchistan because of security concerns.
He says the monitors also watched as election workers prepared to start the vote on Wednesday, readying ballots and electoral rolls.
Gahler will present a preliminary report assessing elections on Friday. He says observers will look into some reports that media access was restricted by military posted at polling stations throughout the country.
An official from Lahore, Mandi Bahauddin, has told The Independent that eight activists working for various political parties as "polling agents" - that is, party members allocated to monitor the voting and attract voters at polling stations - have been arrested on allegations of stopping women vote.
All eight are under investigation and they will charge according to the law, Mr Bahauddin said.
Separately, a police said they were investigating a video taken from outside another polling station in Lahore in which two officers can be seen dragging and hitting a voter.
Lahore local journalist Muhammad Imtaiz told The Independent the voter had got into an argument with police officials, after which the officers dragged him out of the polling station and on can be seen repeatedly slapping him.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments