Mohammadi News Agency News – Features – Photo
MNA International Desk: Pakistanis began voting on Wednesday in a knife-edge general election 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.
About 106 million people are registered to vote in polls due to close at 6:00pm (1300 GMT). Results will start trickling in within hours, and the likely winner should be known by around 2:00am on Thursday.
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, reported news agency.
