As of: February 8, 2024, 4:59 p.m
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For months, political experts and human rights activists in the country have denounced unfair electoral conditions as Pakistan's judiciary has largely dismantled the opposition.
© KM Chaudary/AP/dpa
Massive internet shutdowns have overshadowed Pakistan's elections and fueled fears of manipulation.
The Muslim League around election favorite Nawaz Sharif is hoping for a victory for its top candidate.
Islamabad - After the parliamentary elections in Pakistan, the party of the leading candidate Nawaz Sharif appeared confident of victory even before the first results.
“God willing, we will comfortably get a simple majority,” Hamza Shehbaz, Muslim League PML-N candidate and nephew of Sharif, told Geo News on Thursday.
Around 130 million eligible voters in the nuclear power were called upon to vote on the distribution of power in the National Assembly and the provincial parliaments.
Given the fragile security situation, the polling stations were protected by 600,000 police and soldiers.
For months, political experts and human rights activists in the country have denounced unfair electoral conditions as Pakistan's judiciary has largely dismantled the opposition.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan is in prison on corruption charges, among other things.
The 71-year-old politician sees himself as the victim of a political conspiracy and blames the powerful military for it.
Former Prime Minister Sharif recently returned from exile
Three-time former prime minister Sharif, who had only recently returned from exile, was the favorite in the elections in the nuclear power.
The outsider but Sharif's most important opponent was the 35-year-old Oxford graduate and former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who ran as the top candidate for the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
The PPP and Sharif's PML-N were most recently part of a broad government coalition that Khan toppled in April 2022.
Bhutto Zardari told the local TV station Geo News before the election that further government cooperation with the Sharif brothers of the PML-N would be impossible for him if the PML-N continued with the same policies.
In the last elections in 2018, the PTI party of the still popular opposition leader Khan won the election with a large margin.
The PML-N emerged as the second-placed party at that time, followed by the PPP.
The country's powerful military is crucial for the fall and rise of politicians.
Whoever wins the election will have to assume leadership of the South Asian country at a time of great challenge.
The state is deeply in debt, and high inflation has recently caused increasing dissatisfaction among the population.
Since militant Islamist groups have been carrying out more attacks, the security situation has become tense.
The country also suffers from the consequences of climate change.
Violence broke out again on election day.
At least four security forces guarding polling stations were killed in two attacks in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the border with Afghanistan.
The day before the election, at least 26 people were killed in two attacks on campaign offices in Baluchistan province.
Massive restrictions on mobile networks
The elections were overshadowed by massive restrictions on mobile networks and mobile internet, as the organization NetBlocks reported.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry justified the bans with the alleged security for voters.
On Thursday evening, the ministry announced that it had gradually reactivated the services.
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Human rights organizations sharply criticized the restrictions.
Amnesty International called it a “ruthless attack on people’s rights” in a statement.
It said it was reckless to impede access to information as people went to polling stations following devastating bombings and an intensive crackdown on the opposition ahead of the country's elections.
dpa