Pakistan voted on Wednesday for the country’s second consecutive democratic transfer of power.
Polling began at 8AM across the country's 85,307 polling stations and continued until 6PM despite calls by several major parties, including PML-N, PPP and PTI, to extend the polling time by an hour.
The parties had complained of “a slow voting process” and thus sought more time to facilitate voters — a request that was dismissed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The election campaign was marred by violence with three candidates killed in targetted attacks and culminated with a suicide blast outside a polling station in Quetta which claimed at least 29 lives.
However, undeterred, several of Pakistan’s nearly 106 million registered voters stepped out to cast their ballot, including women in areas where they previously stood disenfranchised due to various issues.
Doors of polling stations were closed as the clock struck 6PM. However, voters present inside were allowed to cast their votes.
As many as 12,570 candidates contested for a total of 849 seats of national and provincial assemblies in the country's 11th General Election.
Counting then begun at the polling stations where the process was completed. Geo News started transmitting results from 7PM onwards as per the ECP's code of conduct.
Preliminary, unofficial results showed the PTI, headed by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, leading the National Assembly tally. As party workers from across the country celebrated the results, the PML-N flatly rejected the ongoing outcome, citing "outright rigging" and accusing officials of preventing its representatives from overseeing the count.
The ECP denied the claims, saying a new electronic results system suffered unexpected glitches. Despite the technical issues, "these elections were 100 per cent fair and transparent", said Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza earlier today, in his first comments after polls closed.
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