Dubai: Who will be the next prime minister of Pakistan --Imran Khan or Shahbaz Sharif or none of them—the 105.9 million voters will decide today.
Any political party needs simple majority of 172 seats in the house of 342 members to form the national government otherwise the party which wins the most number of seats will form the coalition government with the support of minor political parties and independent candidates. A hung parliament or a split mandate seems to be the mostly likely outcome of the acrimonious contest that analysts say is still “up for grabs”.
More than 800,000 security personnel including soldiers spread across the country yesterday to ensuring smooth and transparent elections.
Though more than one hundred political parties are participating in the elections, the real contest will be amongst three giants –Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI); Shahbaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). More than 105.9 million voters will elect a leader today in the tripartite battle.
A total of 85,307 polling stations have been set up across the country with 1.6 million electoral staff on duty. Polling time is from 8am to 6pm without any break.
The process of deployment of 371000 troops for free, fair and transparent conduct of General Election 2018 has been completed. “Pakistan Army will ensure transparency and security at the polling stations across the country as it has no direct role in the election process, “Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of the ISPR –media wing of Pakistan armed forces - told Gulf News in a statement yesterday. He explained
Leaders of the major political parties have urged voters to come out in large number to decide the fate of Pakistan. Imran tweeted: “People of Pakistan must come out and vote in this historic election. This is the first time in four decades the nation has a chance to defeat the entrenched status quo. Don’t miss the opportunity.”
“What an incredible journey this has been, across every corner of this great country. Thank you all for the love you have shown,” Bilawal tweeted after he concluded his whirlwind campaign travelling across the country.
Shahbaz’s message for voters on his tweet was: “We fought the good fight and what’s more important, we are on the right side of the history. Let’s vote on July 25 for the bright future of Pakistan.”
Polling time is from 8am to 6pm. As many as 12,570 candidates are contesting for a total of 849 seats of national and provincial assemblies in the general election. Polling has been cancelled on nine seats including the two national assembly and seven provincial assembly seats for various reasons.
Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Sardar Raza Khan urged voters to come out of their houses and fulfil their national duty of casting the ballot. He said the ECP is doing all it can to ensure free and fair elections. There will be a public holiday on July 25 across the country in order to facilitate the voting process.
“Our predictions are very murky right now,” Bilal Gilani, executive director of Gallup Pakistan, said, adding that a huge chunk of voters remain undecided. “It’s still up for grabs.”
Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais Senior analyst and professor of Political Science at Lahore University of Management Science (LUMS) said it is not possible to predict the elections but PTI will definitely will win more seats. “PTI has more followers across the country as compared to other political parties thus in a better position to form the next government,” he said.
