Skip to main content

Pakistan set for hotly contested elections; 106m voters head to polls today

By
Pakistan’s 11th general election is scheduled to be held today, with 105.95 million voters expected to head to the polls to vote in their respective constituencies across the country.



The battle is set to come down to three parties: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Voting begins at 8am, with a total of 371,388 army personnel deployed at 85,000 polling stations as a precautionary security measure

Polling ends at 6pm, after which polling staff will begin the vote count. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has requested the media not to air unofficial results before 7pm (PST).

The government has declared July 25 a public holiday in an effort to encourage maximum voter participation.

Elections have been postponed in eight national and provincial assembly constituencies.


In one of the constituencies, a candidate had been disqualified while in the other seven, the contesting candidates had passed away.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi was handed a life sentence in the Ephedrine quota case, rendering him unfit to contest the polls for NA-60, leading to the postponement.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced to defer polling in PK-78 Peshawar, PP-87 Mianwali, PS-87 Malir, PK-99 Dera Ismail Khan, PB-35 Mastung, PP-103 and NA-103 Faisalabad constituencies.

The polls shall be contested in 841 constituencies of the country on July 25. Of these, votes shall be cast in 270 constituencies out of 272 National Assembly seats.

While in the four provinces, candidates will battle it out in 500 of the 507 seats available.

All election campaigning by political parties ended on July 23 as per the ECP rules. The run-up to the elections has been one of the bloodiest in the country’s history which saw string of deadly attacks by terrorists targeting election candidates and their supporters.

Military Deployed across Pakistan ahead of elections


Pakistan’s military fanned out across the country ahead of Wednesday’s election, deploying hundreds of thousands of troops to oversee polling stations in a short but acrimonious contest that analysts say is still “up for grabs”.

Armed soldiers watched closely as election officials in Islamabad Tuesday distributed ballot boxes and voting materials for polling stations across the city. The armed forces have stationed over 370,000 personnel nationwide to ensure the vote goes smoothly — the largest such deployment in Pakistan’s history on an election day.

“Deployment of troops completed across the country,” the military said in a statement late on Monday, saying the troops would work with local law enforcement to ensure “a safe and secure environment” for voting. The mammoth deployment coupled with a recent decision by election authorities to grant military officers broad powers inside polling booths has stirred fears of possible manipulation ahead of the contest.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Curfew imposed in wana after ‘Taliban’ attack PTM,s Leaders

By
10 PTM activists, including Wazir’s cousin, injured in the attack PakistanToday : At least 10 people were injured and two suspected Taliban militants were killed in an attack on activists of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), including Ali Wazir and his cousin, in Wana, leading to curfew being imposed in the area. The injured were shifted to Agency Headquarter Hospital Wana for medical treatment where they were declared to be out of danger. According to reports, differences between the two parties developed on Saturday when pro-government militant leader Ain Ullah Wazir forcefully snatched caps from PTM activists and set them on fire. Following the incident, Ali Wazir had condemned the act and called for a sit-in protest from Monday. The militants retaliated and attacked the Mirzalam Khan Wazir Market and the nearby petrol pump, owned by Ali Wazir. However, before the attack, they went to Ali Wazir’s home, armed with guns, and asked him to leave the area of quit PTM....
Post a Comment
Read more

Russia's says Syria chemical weapons attack was free Plane

By
Monitor Desk: The U.S. has blood and urine samples from the area the U.S. has blood and urine samples from the area that have tested positive for chemical weapons, according to two American officials.at have tested positive for chemical weapons, according to two American officials. Russia said Friday it had “irrefutable” evidence that the deadly Syria chemical weapons attack that has prompted the U.S. to consider airstrikes was fabricated. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference that there was a “very alarming atmosphere” over the issue and likened plans for a military response to failed action in Libya. “God forbid any other military gambles will be taken in Syria,” he said. Related Lavrov cited "irrefutable data that [this] was yet another staged event and staging was done … by the special services of one of the countries at the forefront of the anti-Russia campaign." His comments come after President Donald Trump called last Saturday’s attack...
Post a Comment
Read more

China finds no radiation issues after North Korea bomb test

By
A North Korean state handout shows Kim Jong-un in a test facility China has concluded that radiation levels remain normal in the provinces near the North Korean border after the reclusive state conducted a powerful nuclear test last week, sparking concerns of residual environmental damage. China's Ministry of Environmental Protection announced last night it was ending its emergency radiation monitoring in response to the blast last week, which North Korea claimed was the successful detonation of a hydrogen bomb. "A comprehensive assessment has concluded that this DPRK nuclear test has caused no environmental impact on China," the ministry said in a statement posted on its website, using the initials of the North's official name. "After eight days of continuous monitoring, no abnormal results were shown." More than 1,000 aerosol, air, iodine, water and sediment samples were taken at monitoring stations in northeast Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaon...
Post a Comment
Read more