ISLAMABAD — Pakistanis are voting Thursday in long-awaited elections marred by concerns over possible manipulation and violence, including deadly bombings on the eve of the polls.
Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. and are scheduled to close at 5 p.m., local time. The country is observing a national holiday to allow 128 million eligible citizens to cast their ballots.
The elections are the culmination of political instability that started when a no-confidence vote was submitted against then-Prime Minister Imran Khan in March 2022. He was ousted the following month and immediately began agitating for elections. The former cricket star eventually got his wish — but now he is in jail on allegations ranging from corruption and leaking state secrets to an improper marriage contract.
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Khan’s still-popular Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is at a disadvantage. It has been stripped of its electoral symbol, a cricket bat, essentially forcing its candidates to run as independents.
Most experts have been predicting that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — the apparent preference of the country’s powerful military establishment — will prevail. But unease surrounds the polls amid worries over militant attacks, suspicion of rigging and talk of an internet shutdown on election day.
On Wednesday, the worst fears were realized when two explosions near candidates’ offices in the southwestern province of Balochistan killed at least 26 people, according to the latest count. The Islamic State group took responsibility, although the claim could not be independently verified.
Election day dawned with uncertainty over whether the internet would stay on. There were initial reports of a partial mobile internet suspension, although home broadband appeared to be working.
“The caretaker government will consider shutting down internet connections” if a district or province requests it for security purposes, interim Interior Minister Gohar Ejaz had told media. On Tuesday, the KeepItOn coalition — a global network of over 300 organizations from 105 countries — appealed to caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul-Haq Kakar and Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja to ensure that online access is not disrupted.
After voting ends, the ballots will be tallied digitally using a new election management system. Results are expected by early Friday.
Some officials involved in the election process have raised concerns that the vote-counting system could be tampered with to alter the results. But Syed Asif Hussain, secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), has rejected these allegations, assuring the media that the system will work properly.
Human rights watchdogs have also criticized the way Khan’s PTI has been sidelined.
Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said this week: “We are disturbed … by the pattern of harassment, arrests and prolonged detentions of leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) party and their supporters which has continued during the election period. Multiple legal cases have been brought against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, which have disqualified him as a candidate and sentenced him to long prison terms. We expect the higher courts will carefully review these conclusions in line with applicable due process and fair trial rights.”
Throssell added, “All eligible parties must be able to compete fairly.”
Huong Le Thu, the deputy director of the Asia program at the International Crisis Group, told Nikkei Asia in a written statement that “a disputed poll would damage the incoming government’s legitimacy, leaving it ill-equipped to deal with the political and economic instability that is sure to follow.” Pakistan remains mired in an economic crisis that forced it to seek support from the International Monetary Fund to avoid a sovereign default.
Paramilitary soldiers stand guard along a road in Karachi on Feb. 7. Security officials are on high alert amid militant threats to the elections. © Reuters
Despite the controversies, some citizens were keen to vote.