Pakistan votes in elections marred by violence and no mobile internet
Pakistan votes Thursday in a parliamentary election marked by violence and suspicions of rigging, reinforced by the government's decision to cut mobile internet services.
Nawaz Sharif, 74, who has been in exile since October, is the favourite and appears to have the support of the army, a central political player in the country.
If he wins, he would be Prime Minister for the fourth time in his career, at the head of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N).
Meanwhile, the popular 71-year-old former cricketer Imran Khan, who has been sentenced to three long prison terms, failed to run, fuelling suspicions of impartiality.
His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has been the victim of numerous arrests and forced defections and has been prevented from campaigning.
Shortly after polling stations opened, the Interior Ministry announced that mobile internet services were "temporarily suspended" across the country for security reasons.
In southwest Pakistan two security personnel were killed on Thursday in a bomb blast outside a polling station. And on Wednesday another 28 people were killed in two attacks claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group near candidates' offices in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
According to Alp Toker, director of Netblocks, an internet monitoring organisation, "the current internet shutdown is among the most rigorous and extensive we have observed in any country".
Polling stations are scheduled to close at 17:00 (12:00 GMT) for the approximately 128 million voters registered to vote, under the watch of some 650,000 members of the security forces.
Mistrust
"My only fear is whether my ballot will actually be counted on behalf of the party I voted for," Syed Tasawar, a 39-year-old construction worker, tells AFP as he leaves a polling station in Islamabad.
The campaign was not very lively, proof of the disenchantment with politics among Pakistanis, 70% of whom "do not trust the transparency of elections", according to a Gallup poll.
The country was ruled for decades by the army, but in 2013 there was a civilian government for the first time.
Imran Khan, who had the support of the army when he was elected in 2018, challenged it directly, accusing it of orchestrating his removal as prime minister in April 2022.
His fall from grace seems to have favoured Nawaz Sharif. And while his party is the favourite, the outcome may vary greatly depending on turnout, particularly among the youth.
An absolute majority is in any case difficult to achieve for the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), which will probably have to form a coalition. Perhaps with the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the party inherited by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of the assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former President Asif Ali Zardari.
Pakistan, which has atomic weapons and occupies a strategic position between Afghanistan, China, India and Iran, faces numerous challenges.
Security has deteriorated since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Pakistan's economy is burdened by massive debt and inflation of around 30%.