Pakistan Elections 2018: Who’s contesting, and why India must closely watch

With the country gaining independence a day before India, why democracy in the country has largely remained a distant dream.

Voting for Pakistan general elections is underway on Wednesday. The elections mark the completion of its first ever decade of unbroken democracy. That means, since its independence, the nation has seen only two democratically elected governments completing full terms in office.

The first major player in the national election is Shahbaz Sharif, leading the incumbent party (PML-N) into the elections after his brother and former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, was disqualified from holding the elected office and the party leadership for life with his name appearing in Panama Papers.

ALSO READ : Voting begins in Pakistan; parties of Imran Khan, Sharif in tight race

The second major player is Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of assassinated Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He is leading Pakistan People’s Party into the elections and is hoping to capitalize on the support his mother enjoyed.

The third major player is Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI). He is considered to be posing a tough challenge to the incumbent PML-N. Imran believes that his tough stance against corruption would fetch him a majority in the elections.

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Voting begins in Pakistan; parties of Imran Khan, Sharif in tight race

Pakistan votes amid claims democracy being stifled, military accused of favouring ex-cricketer Imran Khan

Pakistani voters in large numbers have started flocking outside polling stations across Pakistan to cast their vote in country’s 11th general election, according to DawnNewsTV.

The first vote was cast in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Charsadda.

While polling stations officially opened for voting at 8 am, enthusiastic citizens queued up outside their respective stations as early as 7 am. Results will start trickling in within hours of polls closing at 6 pm and the likely winner should be known by around 2 am on Thursday.

The knife-edge general election is pitting cricket hero Imran Khan against the party of jailed ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, with the prospect of neither winning a clear majority amid a looming currency crisis.

A decade after Pakistan was last ruled by a military government, the election has been plagued by allegations the powerful armed forces have been trying to tilt the race in Khan’s favour after falling out with the outgoing ruling party of Sharif, who was jailed on corruption charges this month.

Khan has emerged as a slight favourite in national polls, but the divisive race is likely to come down to Punjab, the country’s most populous province, where Sharif’s party has clung to its lead in recent surveys.

Whichever party wins, it will face a mounting and urgent in-tray, from the economic crisis to worsening relations with on-off ally the United States to deepening cross-country water shortages.

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