Pakistan's Interior Ministry announced that mobile services were "temporarily suspended" on Thursday for security reasons. The move was denounced as "fundamentally undemocratic" by an internet governance watchdog.
The fairness of the vote was questioned in advance due to the imprisonment of popular former Prime Minister Imran Khan and the repression suffered by his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Observers believe that the army supports Nawaz Sharif, 74, who could thus lead the country for the fourth time.