Lahore, Pakistan — Amidst raucous protests of pre-poll manipulation, cellular service suspension and bomb blasts within the nation which killed at the least 9 folks, Pakistan’s twelfth common election had been declared closed on Thursday night.
The Election Fee of Pakistan (ECP) has mentioned that the counting course of began quickly after the closure of the ballot. The outcomes are anticipated to start out 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 on account of a conviction in a corruption case.
Khan is presently in jail serving a number of sentences for a variety 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 get together nonetheless managed to place up unbiased candidates in a coordinated marketing campaign.
Earlier within the day former international minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Pakistan Individuals’s Get together solid his vote within the province of Sindh, the place the PPP is especially robust. The PPP might be hoping it will probably 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 companies throughout the nation, citing safety issues.
But, there have been a number of incidents of bomb blasts through the day, which killed at the least 9 folks 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 workplaces of two candidates, which resulted within the loss of life of at the least 27 folks.
After the closure of the polls, interim prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar in a press release mentioned it was a “momentous occasion”.
Kakar additionally mentioned praised the keenness of the folks of Pakistan and appreciated their participation within the polling course of. “The high voter turnout is a clear indication of public commitment to shaping the future of our country,” he mentioned in his assertion. Nonetheless, experiences 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 % of whole voters, in 2013 (54 %) and 2018 (51 %).
Of the128 million voters registered to vote this yr, greater than 45 % of them are between the ages of 18 and 35. In response to election statistics, from 1997 onwards, the voter turnout of these between the ages of 18 and 30 by no means crossed 40 %, reaching a excessive of 37 % 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 get together’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 have done election duties in the past and it was never 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 employees at numerous polling station was absent and, in lots of locations, voting didn’t start as late as 3pm (1000 GMT) native time.
“This is my third attempt to vote today. I came in the morning, there was no one here. All the room were empty. I came earlier in the afternoon, and rooms were empty, and polling booths weren’t set up. People were running back and forth trying to figure out 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 seemed to be break up between PTI and PMLN.
Ayesha Siddiqua, a instructor in Lahore, mentioned she had been a lifelong Imran Khan fan and would vote for him no matter what different events have to supply.
“I have been following him since his cricket days, and then the cancer hospital he built,” she instructed Al Jazeera, after casting her vote in Lahore. “For me, he can do no wrong.” Khan constructed a most cancers hospital in Lahore in 1994, named after his mom who had died of the illness in 1985.
Different voters reminiscent of Khalid Taimur, a tour information in Lahore, mentioned his vote was reserved for Sharif, the PMLN supremo.
“Nawaz Sharif gave us roads, buses, trains. He gave us infrastructure projects that helped the life of common people. 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 usually function a deterrent to girls transferring about publicly.
Pakistan’s election physique mentioned that if the overall feminine turnout in any constituency was lower than 10 % of whole votes, it would order recent voting there.
“If the total female voters’ count in a constituency remains below 10% of the total votes cast, the Election Commission of Pakistan, as per law, can void the voting in that constituency and order for re-polling,” the electoral watchdog mentioned 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 next government’s priority should be inflation and terrorism, because yesterday over two dozen people were killed in Balochistan,” she instructed Al Jazeera.
With the nation coping with an economic system in disaster, in addition to a risky safety scenario with greater than 1000 folks dying final yr in violent assaults, many Pakistanis are viewing the elections with the hope that it will probably produce a authorities able to bringing some stability to the nation of 241 million folks.
However analysts have warned that the subsequent authorities could battle to achieve legitimacy due to the focusing on of Khan. And with out the belief of Pakistan’s folks, they cautioned, the subsequent prime minister could battle to take steps to assist the nation battle its myriad challeges.
With further reporting from Alia Chughtai in Karachi, Saadullah Akhter in Quetta and Islam Gul Afridi in Peshawar.