Islamabad: Pakistanis braved cold winter weather and the threat of violence to vote for a new parliament Thursday even as the death toll from twin bombings a day before claimed at least 30 lives, in the worst election-related violence ahead of the contested elections.
A countrywide public holiday was declared to enable a total of 128,585,760 registered voters to cast their votes. Polling for the general elections started at 8.00 am and continued till 5.00 PM. The day was marred with incidents of violence, rigging allegations and a massive telecommunication blackout.
Nearly 650,000 security personnel were deployed across the country to guard 90,000 polling stations. Pakistan suspended cellular and internet services in several parts of the country, including major cities like Islamabad, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar and others, as more than 128 million people eligible to vote in the general elections voted to choose a new government.
With former prime minister Imran Khan in jail, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is tipped to emerge as the single largest party in the elections. The election comes at a critical time for this nuclear-armed nation, an unpredictable Western ally bordering Afghanistan, China, India and Iran — a region rife with hostile boundaries and tense relations. Pakistan's next government will face huge challenges, from containing unrest, overcoming an intractable economic crisis to stemming illegal migration.
Here are the latest updates:
- 5.55 PM
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed confidence his party would win national elections on Thursday, a vote that was marred by violence, deep political tensions and the imprisonment of a popular contender. Sharif brushed off suggestions his Pakistan Muslim League party might not win an outright majority in the parliament and would need to form a coalition to govern. “For God’s sake, don’t mention a coalition government," he said after casting his vote in the upscale Model Town neighborhood of Lahore. He even suggested he was already thinking about which posts would go to his family members — including his younger brother and former prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif. “Once this election is over," Nawaz Sharif said, "we will sit down and decide who is PM (prime minister) and who is CM (chief minister)” of Punjab province, a job that is regarded as a stepping stone to becoming premier. - 5.45 PM
Polling marred by violence, rigging allegations and cellular and internet outages concludes across Pakistan. - 4.50 PM
As authorities in Pakistan suspended mobile services across the country on the polling day, Commonwealth Observers' Group head Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on Thursday said casting votes was more important than internet services. Former Nigerian president Jonathan, who is leading a 25-member COG delegation comprising journalists and experts, made the remarks as foreign observers visited different polling stations across Pakistan to inspect the ongoing electoral process, GEO News reported. Jonathan, speaking to the media, said: Before the invention of the internet, we were holding polls and voting is more important than the internet. - 4.15 PM
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has demanded the immediate restoration of internet and cellular services across the country. In a post on X, HRCP said the ongoing disruption to services has occurred despite the Sindh High Court's direction to the caretaker government to ensure uninterrupted internet services on polling day. "With the PTA claiming it has received no instructions from the government to block internet services, there is a worrying lack of transparency about where, when and how long the disruption will continue, thereby affecting voters' right to information and potentially the transmission of results. Those who gave this order must be identified and held responsible," the HRCP said in its post. - 3.35 PM
Pakistan's Chief Election Commissioner assures mobile service suspension cannot hamper his agency's work: Amid the suspension of mobile services in Pakistan due to the deteriorating security situation, Pakistan's Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Thursday said its Election Management System is not dependent on the Internet and its work will not be affected due to it, news agency PTI reported. Even when the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had earlier said that internet services would remain functional on the voting day, twin terror attacks that killed at least 30 people prompted the caretaker government to suspend mobile services due to the deteriorating security situation. - 3.30 PM
At least five policemen were killed and six others injured when unidentified gunmen set off a bomb and then opened fire at their vehicle deployed for election security in Pakistan's restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan. According to police, the vehicle was stationed in the jurisdiction of Kalachi police station in Dera Ismail Khan. The policemen were deployed for the security of Graha Aslam polling station, the Express Tribune newspaper reported. The attack happened a day after at least 30 people were killed in twin terror attacks in the restive Balochistan province. - 3.00 PM
Police say gunmen set off a bomb and opened fire on officers, killing 5 in Pakistan's northwest as the nation votes, reports AP. - 2.03 PM
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's party on Thursday claimed that polling in several areas of Pakistan's Punjab province of Pakistan began on Thursday without the presence of its agents, some of whom were picked by the police to make rigging easier in the elections. - 1.55 PM
The Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday responded to the United Nations' apprehensions regarding terrorist attacks aimed at election campaigns and the involvement of women in the electoral process, as per Pakistan based Dawn reported. - 12.58 PM
Polling operations at various stations throughout the country have encountered significant delays owing to a range of technical and logistical impediments, hindering the commencement of the electoral process - 12.47 PM
Pakistan-based National Democratic Movement (NDM) Chairman Mohsin Dawar highlighted that three female polling agents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Tappi have been attacked by the Taliban during the ongoing general elections. - 12.08 PM
As mobile services remain suspended in Pakistan amid the ongoing polls, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari demanded the immediate restoration of mobile phone services across the country - 11.30 AM
Former Indian diplomat KP Fabian has said elections in Pakistan will be neither free nor fair and that the real power will be held by the country's army chief. - 10.35 AM
One security personnel was killed in an attack on a security forces vehicle in Pakistan's Dera Ismail Khan on Thursday. Assailants attacked the vehicle which was on election duty. The incident took place in the Kot Azam area on the day when voting for national and state assemblies were underway. - 9.53 AM
Pakistan's Former prime minister Imran Khan and other prominent incarcerated political figures have cast their votes through postal ballot from jail. However, Bushra Bibi, Khan's wife, was unable to participate in the voting as she was convicted and arrested after the completion of the postal voting process.
Political leaders who have managed to vote by mail included former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid, and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry - 9.20 AM
Pakistan's caretaker Interior Ministry has announced the temporary suspension of mobile services across Pakistan. Citing the "deteriorating security situation," the ministry emphasized the need to safeguard against potential security threats - 9.05 AM
As elections in Pakistan get underway, several security experts feel that this is a sham election where the Army continues to call the shots and one of the largest political parties the PTI has most of its leadership in jail. - 8.50 AM
Pakistan has announced the closure of its borders with neighbouring Afghanistan and Iran to ensure security during the upcoming general elections slated for February 8. - 8.15 AM
Pakistanis on Thursday began voting in the general elections to elect a new government to rule the cash-strapped country amid speculation that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N may emerge as the largest party in Parliament as it is backed by the powerful military. The polling started at 8.00 AM and will continue without any break till 5.00 PM. (With inputs from agencies)
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