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Polling underway in Pak amid fears of violence

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  • Polling underway in Pak amid fears of violence

    SOURCE:- NDTV.com: Polling underway in Pak amid fears of violence

    Polling underway in Pak amid fears of violence

    NDTV Correspondent
    Monday, February 18, 2008 (Islamabad)
    Finally, it's election time in Pakistan. Over eight crore people vote for the National Assembly as well as the provincial assemblies today. The run-up to the elections has seen widespread violence including the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

    There are apprehensions of widespread rigging. Over 1000 observers, including those from the United States and the European Union will be monitoring the elections.

    Parties in the fray:

    PPP: Benazir Bhutto's, Pakistan Peoples Party, now led by her widower Asif Zardari. The party hopes to get sympathy votes after Benazir's tragic death.

    PML-N: The PML-N is led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif who returned from years of exile last year is barred from serving another term as prime minister but his party has an understanding with the PPP to form a coalition government just in case.

    PML-Q: The PML-Q was formed mainly with defectors from Nawaz Sharif's party after the 1999 coup. Since then it has been the main political face of President Musharraf's government together with smaller provincial allies. It was the disputed victor of the last elections in 2002.

    MMA: Wrangling over an election boycott has led to a division in the six-party religious alliance, the MMA. The alliance emerged as the third largest group in the last elections and has sided with Musharraf. The largest party in the alliance, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam of Maulana Fazlur Rahman, has decided to contest the elections despite a boycott appeal by the alliance chief.

    APDA: The All Parties Democratic Alliance, a grouping of several opposition parties, almost all nationalist groups from Balochistan and one of the two main Pashtun nationalist groups from the north-west.

    Among the parties boycotting the elections are cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaaf.

    In a television interview on Sunday, PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari warned that Pakistan could break up if the Musharraf government rigs the elections.

    United States' rider

    The elections are under the international radar and speaking on behalf of America, US Senator Joseph Biden, who is in Lahore as observor, has made it clear that the most important element of these polls is the fairness quotient.

    Human Rights watch on elections

    Speaking to NDTV's Managing Editor Barkha Dutt, Ali Dayaz Hasan, South Asia Researcher with Human Rights Watch said that he is not confident that the elections will be free and fair.

    LETS SEE WHO WILL WIN
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