Islamabad:

Millions of Pakistanis began voting on Thursday in an election marred by accusations of fraud that has seen the country’s most popular politician jailed and a candidate favored by the military expected to win.

Authorities said they would suspend mobile phone services nationwide during the vote “to maintain law and order” after a bloody campaign that included two bombings that killed 28 people on Wednesday.

Pollsters forecast low turnout among the country’s 128 million eligible voters, with the jailing of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and a drag on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) by the military-led establishment casting a gloomy tone to the electoral campaign. Impact. .

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is expected to win the most seats in Thursday’s vote, with analysts saying the alliance’s 74-year-old founder Nawaz Sharif has won the generals’ blessing.

“My only concern is whether my vote will be counted for the same party I voted for. At the same time, for poor people, it doesn’t matter who is in power – we need a government that can control inflation,” Saiyi Syed Tassawar, a 39-year-old construction worker who voted in Islamabad’s Noorpur Shahan neighborhood, told AFP.

At the same polling station, first-time voter Haleema Shafiq, 22, a psychology student, told AFP: “I believe in democracy. I hope the government can make Pakistan safer for girls.”

Polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. (0300 GMT) and were expected to close at 5:00 p.m., with an additional hour for voters already present.

Officials deployed more than 650,000 army, paramilitary and police personnel to provide security for an election already marred by violence.

‘Security measures’

Two bomb blasts killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 30 others on Wednesday outside a candidate’s office in southwestern Pakistan, hours after ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs said that recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan had “claimed precious lives” and that “security measures are crucial to maintain law and order situations and deal with potential threats”.

“The decision has been taken to temporarily suspend mobile services nationwide,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Land borders with neighboring Iran and Afghanistan will also be closed to all traffic on Thursday as a security measure, the foreign ministry said.

The electoral figures for this nuclear-armed country with a population of 240 million and the fifth most populous country in the world are shocking.

Nearly 18,000 candidates are running for seats in the national parliament and the four provincial assemblies, with 266 seats in direct competition in the national assembly, 70 seats reserved for women and ethnic minorities, and 749 seats in regional assemblies.

reverse situation

Thursday’s election was similar to the 2018 polls, but in a reversal.

Sharif was subsequently disqualified from running on a series of corruption charges, while Khan came to power with the military’s backing and real support.

Bilal Gilani, executive director of polling group Gallup Pakistan, said: “The history of elections in Pakistan is replete with accusations of rigged elections and also of favoritism towards political parties – there were very similar ones in 2018. Condition.”

“This is a democracy run by the military.”

However, unlike the last polls, the names of opposition parties have been removed from the ballot papers, forcing the PTI-selected candidates to contest as independents.

Khan, a former international cricketer who led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 World Cup, was sentenced to a long jail term last week on charges of treason, corruption and illegal marriage.

Analysts said the personal attack showed the military was deeply concerned that the candidate selected by the PTI could still become a decisive factor in Thursday’s vote.

If Sharif does not win a governing majority, he is likely to remain in power through an alliance with one or more junior partners, including the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), another party currently led by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari family dynasty.

Pollsters say the election has left people at their most “depressed” in years.

Observers say whoever wins will take over a deeply divided country with a shattered economy.

Inflation has soared to nearly 30%, the rupee has plummeted for three consecutive years, and the balance of payments deficit has frozen imports, severely hampering industrial growth.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)