Pakistan to elect new government, voters say ‘only fear is...’
Pakistanis vote in hopes of controlling inflation, with concerns about the accuracy of the vote count and the need for a government that can address the needs of the poor.
Pakistan Polls 2024: With hopes for a government that can bring inflation in Pakistan under control, the voters are polling today amid worries that whether their votes will be counted for the same political party as they cast it for or not.
"My only fear is whether my vote will be counted for the same party I cast it for. At the same time, for the poor it does not matter who is ruling -- we need a government that can control inflation," a 39-year-old construction worker Syed Tassawar who voted in Islamabad's Noorpur Shahan neighbourhood told AFP.
"I believe in democracy. I want a government that can make Pakistan safer for girls," a 22-year-old first-time voter Haleema Shafiq, a psychology student, at the same polling station told AFP.
The polling for Pakistan general elections began at 8.00 AM and will continue without any break till 5.00 PM. A countrywide public holiday has been declared to enable a total of 128,585,760 registered voters to cast their votes.
Just before the polling, Pakistan government suspended mobile telephone services across the country during voting "to maintain law and order" and tackle threats.
“Given recent surge in terrorist incidents, it has been decided to shut mobile services nationwide temporarily to maintain the law-and-order situation and tackle threats,” Pakistan's interior ministry said in a statement.
The move came less than 24 hours after two bomb blasts targeting the offices of different political leaders killed at least 20 people in Pakistan’s northwest Balochistan province.
There have been 217 militant attacks since the elections were announced in early November, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
More than 650,000 army, paramilitary and police personnel have been deployed to provide security for an election already marred by violence and by allegations of poll rigging.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's Former prime minister Imran Khan and other prominent incarcerated political figures have cast their votes through postal ballots 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, Dawn News reported.
Overall, fewer than 100 prisoners of Adiala Jail were able to vote, constituting only about one per cent of the prison's 7,000 inmates.
According to news agency PTI, the jail administration allowed only those inmates to cast their votes who had valid computerised national identity cards (CNICs), and the reason for a low turnout was that an overwhelming majority of the prisoners did not have the original CNIC.
“There are criminals, dacoits, thieves, convicts in the heinous crimes and under-trial prisoners (UTPs) detained in the jail,” a senior official told PTI.
Khan’s PTI party is leading the social media campaign for its candidates contesting as independents on multiple different symbols after the Supreme Court ruling stripped off its electoral symbol, the iconic cricket bat, in a case related to intra-party elections.
In a message, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan said Khan, 71, had dedicated everything, including his life, to that cause.
“As citizens of the country, we have a debt to pay. We must use our vote to change the face of Pakistan by dismantling a rotten system that has cast a vicious stranglehold on the country and its people,” he said in a post on X.
With Khan in jail, the military-favoured former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is tipped to emerge as the largest party in Parliament.
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First Published:8 Feb 2024, 12:08 PM IST
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