Pakistan goes to the polls in a climate of violence and political division. Two attacks in the conflictive region of Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, cause at least 26 deaths on the day before the elections.

The likely winner of the vote is the recently returned Nawaz Sharif, 74, candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. He resigned from office for the last time in 2017, surrounded by corruption investigations that ended in a prison sentence and lifelong political disqualification. After fleeing Pakistan and spending four years in self-imposed exile, he returned to the country last October.