08h33 – Pakistanis at the polls for legislative elections under high tension

Pakistanis voted Wednesday for high-voltage elections that could see former cricket champion Imran Khan take power, after a campaign clouded by attacks and accusations of military interference marked by greater visibility of extremist religious parties.

Some 106 million voters out of a population of 207 million are being called to ballot.

In addition to Imran Khan, leader of the PTI party, the other The main contender for the post of prime minister is Shahbaz Sharif, brother of former head of government Nawaz Sharif, head of the PML-N party.

Analysts believe however that the game remains largely "open."

Wednesday's election represents only the second democratic transition from one civilian government to another in a young country with a past punctuated by military coups and political badbadinations.

But the campaign, brief and acrimonious, has been portrayed by some observers as one of the "dirtiest" in its history because of the allegedly manipulations supposed to favor Imran Khan.

The more than 85,000 polling stations will close at 13:00 GMT. The first results are expected in the evening.

Voters crowded Wednesday at the polling stations in Lahore (center). "I gave my voice to the PTI although I'm not their supporter." (Former Prime Minister) Nawaz Sharif tried to discredit our army and by anger I voted PTI, "told AFP Khalid Mehmood , a 72-year-old man in a polling station in a working clbad neighborhood.

PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif also voted in Lahore: "I want to tell the Pakistani people not to waste time and to leave their homes to vote and change the fate of Pakistan, "he told reporters.

Imran Khan is expected at a polling station in Bani Gala, near Islamabad. [19659002] Some 800,000 military and police were deployed during the day to ensure the security of the vote. The Pakistani Electoral Commission also granted the officers wide judicial powers inside the polling stations.

Despite this, one policeman was killed and three others wounded early Wednesday when unknown persons threw a grenade into a police station. Khuzdar district in the unstable province of Baluchistan (southwest), police said.

And in Swabi (north-west), one PTI activist was killed and three others wounded in an exchange of firing with supporters of a rival party, the ANP, according to the police

A series of attacks had already mourned several election rallies in mid-July, killing some 180 people including three candidates. The security situation in the country remains much better than it was a few years ago.

"By the grace of God, we want to attend a peaceful election," Election Commission Secretary Babar Yaqoob told reporters on Tuesday evening, "But we still have (security) challenges. we receive threats of different kinds, "he admitted.

– Iron Arm –

Voters, including nearly 20 million first-time voters, must choose a successor to the PML-N party , at the helm since 2013.

Its main rival is Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Known as an old playboy in the West, he presents himself in his country on a reformist and anti-corruption program, but sometimes flirting with extremist theses.

He is also accused of receiving underhand support from the powerful army. The latter defends itself of any "direct role" in the elections.

A third training, the PPP of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of the former badbadinated Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, could be called to form a coalition with the winner

For a number of badysts, the match appears at this stage too tight and the political situation too confused to be able to deliver a reliable prognosis.

"It's still very open," noted Bilal Gilani, director of Gallup polling institute Pakistan polled by AFP, number of voters still undecided

The campaign was also marked by a tug-of-war between the army and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, dismissed for corruption a year ago

M. Sharif, currently imprisoned, accuses him of doing everything to harm his party, including forcing his candidates to change their allegiance, to the benefit of the ITP.

million. Sharif is not alone in blaming the military: several major Pakistani media and political activists have complained in recent months that they have been kidnapped, censored and threatened to force them to shift their coverage of the PTI and PML-N.

Some badysts also expressed the fear of seeing part of the electorate, very polarized, reject the result of the vote and go to the streets to protest, posing a risk of instability, or even violence in the country