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Election workers assemble voting booths at a school in Islamabad. Pakistanis will go to the polls in parliamentary elections on Feb. 18 amid fears of violence and rigging. -- PHOTO: AP
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ISLAMABAD - PAKISTANIS defied bombings and shootings on Monday to vote in critical parliamentary elections that will decide the political fate of key US anti-terrorist ally President Pervez Musharraf.
The polls were intended to complete the transition to civilian democracy after eight years of military rule, but took place in the shadow of surging violence including the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
Western allies will be closely watching the result of the polls in the nuclear-armed Islamic nation - with opposition leaders vowing mass protests if rigging robs them of victory.
Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999 and stepped down as army chief in November, called for reconciliation after the vote and warned all parties to accept the outcome gracefully.
'Whosoever wins the polls, as president of Pakistan, I will function with them in a totally harmonious manner,' Musharraf told state television after he cast his vote in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Officials said 14 people were killed and 100 injured in violence that began on the eve of the vote.
Security fears were believed to have kept many voters at home, despite the presence of 80,000 troops on the streets.
Voting picked up after a slow start and the turnout three hours before the polls closed at 5pm (1200 GMT) stood at about 35 per cent of Pakistan's 81 million eligible voters, a senior electoral official said.
The first results were expected after 10.30pm with the overall picture set to emerge on Tuesday. The government banned exit polls.
Musharraf faces possible impeachment if the vote brings in a parliament packed with his foes, and even if he heads off that threat he would find his power further curtailed if the opposition wins a majority.
The former general is viewed by the United States as its key ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants based in Pakistan's tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan.
Opinion polls have tipped Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to win, followed by the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, with the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) trailing in third place.
'I am not afraid of bomb blasts... I am far less courageous than Bhutto but I would be ready to die to achieve her mission,' Mr Sakina Bibi, a 60-year-old supporter of the slain politician, said in the southern city of Karachi.
But opposition leaders have alleged a campaign of 'massive rigging' in favour of Musharraf's allies, who could also find support from their feudal connections in rural Pakistan.
Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, predicted that the PPP would win.
'Victory is our destiny and we will change the system,' he said as he cast his vote in the southern city of Nawabshah.
Mr Sharif said, as he voted in the eastern city of Lahore, that the PML-Q 'is committing rigging, and they are attacking our candidates and supporters'.
A candidate from Sharif's party who was standing in provincial elections that were also being held on Monday was among five people shot dead late on Sunday in Lahore. Another Sharif supporter was killed on Monday.
Security officials said a total of 14 people died over the two days.
At least eight bombs exploded in Pakistan's insurgency-hit northwest and southwest but caused no casualties, officials said.
A rocket also hit a polling station in the south of the country.
Opposition parties say a low turnout caused by fears of violence would make vote fraud even easier but many Pakistanis said they were determined to cast their ballots anyway.
'I am scared because of all the bombings but I am sure Allah will protect me and all the people voting today,' Mr Saima Zahoor, a housewife clad in an all-covering burka, said in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Campaigning ended grimly on Saturday when a suicide car bomber ploughed into a meeting of Bhutto's supporters in the northwestern tribal town of Parachinar, killing 47 people and wounding more than 100 others.
More than 90 people died in bombings during the week leading up to the vote.
The attacks highlighted the Pakistani military's ongoing struggles in the tribal belt, which has been branded by US officials as a 'safe haven' for Al-Qaeda militants.
Mr Musharraf and the US Central Intelligence Agency have accused a top Al-Qaeda militant based in the region of masterminding Bhutto's assassination. -- AFP
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