Lahore, Pakistan — Amidst raucous protests of pre-poll manipulation, cellular service suspension and bomb blasts within the nation which killed no less than 9 individuals, Pakistan’s twelfth basic election had been declared closed on Thursday night.
The Election Fee of Pakistan (ECP) has stated that the counting course of began quickly after the closure of the ballot. The results are expected to begin trickling in later at night time.
Three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is taken into account the front-runner to emerge victorious.
Sharif spoke to the media after casting his vote, declaring he by no means had any issues with the Pakistani army, the first energy dealer within the nation with whom he has had main variations previously.
His path to potential premiership was cleared after his chief political rival, ex-Prime Minister mran Khan, was barred from collaborating within the election attributable to a conviction in a corruption case.
Khan is at present in jail serving a number of sentences for a spread of convictions, however had urged his voters to make sure that they got here out on polling day.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) additionally had its image taken away by the ECP, however the celebration nonetheless managed to place up impartial candidates in a coordinated marketing campaign.
Earlier within the day former international minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Pakistan Individuals’s Occasion solid his vote within the province of Sindh, the place the PPP is especially robust. The PPP shall be hoping it may well spring a shock and upset predictions by rising victorious.
Earlier than the voting began at its scheduled 8am native time (0300 GMT), the federal government introduced the suspension of cellular providers throughout the nation, citing safety issues.
But, there have been a number of incidents of bomb blasts through the day, which killed no less than 9 individuals within the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern province of Balochistan.
This adopted the 2 bomb blasts in Balochistan on Wednesday at election places of work of two candidates, which resulted within the loss of life of no less than 27 individuals.
After the closure of the polls, interim prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar in an announcement stated it was a “momentous event”.
Kakar additionally stated praised the passion of the individuals of Pakistan and appreciated their participation within the polling course of. “The excessive voter turnout is a transparent indication of public dedication to shaping the way forward for our nation,” he stated in his assertion. Nonetheless, studies emerged from throughout the nation that voter turnout remained subdued through the day.
Pakistan, traditionally, has seen low voter turnout in elections. Since 1985, solely twice has the turnout exceeded 50 p.c of complete voters, in 2013 (54 p.c) and 2018 (51 p.c).
Of the128 million voters registered to vote this yr, greater than 45 p.c of them are between the ages of 18 and 35. In keeping with election statistics, from 1997 onwards, the voter turnout of these between the ages of 18 and 30 by no means crossed 40 p.c, reaching a excessive of 37 p.c in 2018.
When polling began in Pakistan this morning, all eyes had been on the voters of PTI. With a state crackdown since Could final yr and now the imprisonment of their chief Khan, the celebration’s supporters had vowed to reply via tehir votes.
Nonetheless, at greater than a dozen polling stations that Al Jazeera visited until 3pm, principally in Lahore’s middle-income and working-class localities, voter enthusiasm appeared lacklustre. In a single polling station in Mochi Gate space, out of practically 1400 registered voters, lower than 250 had confirmed up.
“I’ve accomplished election duties previously and it was by no means so dismal,” ECP official Mohammed Ashfaq instructed Al Jazeera.
There have been a number of complaints that emerged from Karachi, the biggest metropolis within the nation, the place voters alleged that polling workers at varied polling station was absent and, in lots of locations, voting didn’t start as late as 3pm (1000 GMT) native time.
“That is my third try to vote at present. I got here within the morning, there was nobody right here. All of the room had been empty. I got here earlier within the afternoon, and rooms had been empty, and polling cubicles weren’t arrange. Individuals had been working forwards and backwards making an attempt to determine which room to go to. It’s been a nightmare,” Elhaam Shaikh, 35, instructed Al Jazeera.
Whereas the ECP has barred exit polls within the nation, the voters Al Jazeera spoke to gave the impression to be break up between PTI and PMLN.
Ayesha Siddiqua, a instructor in Lahore, stated she had been a lifelong Imran Khan fan and would vote for him no matter what different events have to supply.
“I’ve been following him since his cricket days, after which the most cancers hospital he constructed,” she instructed Al Jazeera, after casting her vote in Lahore. “For me, he can do no incorrect.” Khan constructed a most cancers hospital in Lahore in 1994, named after his mom who had died of the illness in 1985.
Different voters similar to Khalid Taimur, a tour information in Lahore, stated his vote was reserved for Sharif, the PMLN supremo.
“Nawaz Sharif gave us roads, buses, trains. He gave us infrastructure tasks that helped the lifetime of frequent individuals. His legacy is his work, which speaks for itself,” the 52-year-old instructed Al Jazeera after voting.
In Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, voting turn-out for girls remained low as in comparison with the remainder of the nation. Tribal traditions within the province typically function a deterrent to ladies transferring about publicly.
Pakistan’s election physique stated that if the entire feminine turnout in any constituency was lower than 10 p.c of complete votes, it would order contemporary voting there.
“If the entire feminine voters’ rely in a constituency stays beneath 10% of the entire votes solid, the Election Fee of Pakistan, as per legislation, can void the voting in that constituency and order for re-polling,” the electoral watchdog stated in a message on X (previously referred to as Twitter), a day earlier than election.
#ECP pic.twitter.com/k9MyQMGdua
— Election Fee of Pakistan (OFFICIAL)🇵🇰 (@ECP_Pakistan) February 7, 2024
Muteeba Naz, 21, got here to solid her first-ever poll in Quetta, Balochistan’s capital. “The subsequent authorities’s precedence needs to be inflation and terrorism, as a result of yesterday over two dozen individuals had been killed in Balochistan,” she instructed Al Jazeera.
With the nation coping with an financial system in disaster, in addition to a risky safety scenario with greater than 1000 individuals dying final yr in violent assaults, many Pakistanis are viewing the elections with the hope that it may well produce a authorities able to bringing some stability to the nation of 241 million individuals.
However analysts have warned that the following authorities might battle to gain legitimacy due to the focusing on of Khan. And with out the belief of Pakistan’s individuals, they cautioned, the following prime minister might battle to take steps to assist the nation struggle its myriad challeges.
With further reporting from Alia Chughtai in Karachi, Saadullah Akhter in Quetta and Islam Gul Afridi in Peshawar.
