Pakistan marks democratic milestone in close-fought election
11 May BBC
Pakistanis began voting on Saturday in a landmark election that will
bring the first transition between civilian governments in a country
ruled by the military for more than half of its turbulent history. The
people of Pakistan hope the polls will deliver change and ease
frustrations with a feeble economy, widespread corruption, chronic power
cuts and crumbling infrastructure.Disenchantment with the two mainstream
parties appeared this week to have brought a late surge of support for
former cricket star Imran Khan, who could end up holding the balance of
power if there is no clear-cut winner.
If that happens, weeks of haggling to form a coalition will follow,
which would raise the risk that the government is undermined by
instability.That would only make it more difficult to reverse the
disgust with politicians felt among the country's 180 million people and
drive through the reforms needed to revive its near-failed economy.Power
cuts can last more than 10 hours a day in some places, crippling key
industries like textiles, and a new International Monetary Fund bailout
may be needed soon.Dozens of people have been killed in the run-up to
the vote by the al-Qaeda-linked Pakistan Taliban, which regards the poll
as un-Islamic and has vowed to disrupt the process with suicide
bombings.The Taliban have focused their anger on secular-leaning parties
like the outgoing coalition led by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
On Saturday, an office of the Awami National Party (ANP) in the
northwest was blown up. There were no immediate reports of casualties.In
commercial hub Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, a blast at the office
of an ANP candidate killed three people and wounded 20, police and
hospital sources said.The problems facing the new government will be
immense, and this may be the last chance that the country's existing
elites have to solve them,” said Anatol Lieven, a professor at King's
College, London, and author of a book on Pakistan.“If the lives of
ordinary Pakistanis are not significantly improved over the next five
years, a return to authoritarian solutions remains a possibility,”
Lieven wrote in a column in the Financial Times on Friday.The army
stayed out of politics during the five years of the last government, but
it still sets the nuclear-armed country's foreign and security policy
and will steer the thorny relationship with Washington as NATO troops
withdraw from neighboring Afghanistan next year.
The party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif looks set to win the
most seats in the one-day vote, which got under way across the country
at 8 a.m. (0300 GMT).However, Khan's dark-horse challenge could deprive
Sharif of a majority and dash his hopes for a return to power 14 years
after he was ousted in a military coup, jailed and later
exiled.Pakistan's best-known sportsman, who led a playboy lifestyle in
his younger days, Khan is seen by many as a refreshing change from the
dynastic politicians who long relied on a patronage system to win votes
and are often accused of corruption.Voters will elect 272 members of the
National Assembly and to win a simple majority, a party would have to
take 137 seats.However, the election is complicated by the fact that a
further 70 seats, most reserved for women and members of non- Muslim
minorities, are allocated to parties on the basis of their performance
in the contested constituencies. To have a majority of the total of 342,
a party would need 172.
Khan appeals mostly to young, urban voters because of his calls for
an end to corruption, a new political landscape and a halt to U.S. drone
strikes on Pakistani soil.The 60-year-old is in hospital after injuring
himself in a fall at a party rally, which may also win him sympathy
votes.Early opinion polls had put the share of votes for his
Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) party as low as single figures. However, a survey
released on Wednesday showed 24.98 percent of voters nationally planned
to vote for his party, just a whisker behind Sharif's Pakistan Muslim
League (PML-N).The Herald magazine poll showed Sharif's party remained
the front-runner in Punjab, which, with the largest share of
parliamentary seats, usually dictates the outcome of elections. It also
pointed to an upset for the PPP, which led the last government, placing
it third. Pakistan's politics have long been dominated by the PML-N and
the PPP, whose most prominent figure is President Asif Ali Zardari,
widower of assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto.The PPP didn't
take care of the poor masses and always engages in corrupt practices
whenever they come to power,” said Sher Nabi, a banker from Peshawar.
“So we've decided to vote for the PTI candidate this time and test
Imran Khan to see if he proves as honest as he claims.”
Pakistan, which prides itself on its democratic credentials, ordered
the New York Times bureau chief in Islamabad to leave the country on the
eve of natonal elections, the newspaper said on Friday.A two-sentence
letter was delivered by police officers to the home of the bureau chief,
Declan Walsh, at 12:30 a.m. local time on Thursday, it said.It is
informed that your visa is hereby canceled in view of your undesirable
activities,” the Times quoted the letter as saying. “You are therefore
advised to leave the country within 72 hours.
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