Half a dozen men in front of a classroom of the Model College School for Boys in the Islamabad Industrial Zone are angry. "We can not vote," complain two hours after the official start of parliamentary elections in Pakistan.
"The policeman who is supposed to open here has not arrived yet," calmly exclaims the election official, "and it will come later." The voices of the prevented electors become stronger. A soldier, his rifle under his arm, calms the indignant people.
About 350,000 police officers offered the country's government the protection of the elections. An additional 350,000 soldiers were distributed at polling stations. But security personnel were unable to maintain order everywhere on polling day, when 105 million Pakistanis were called to the polls. In disputes between supporters of the PTI led by the election favorite Imran Khan and supporters of the former PMLN ruling party of corruption in the prison former ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif were two dead on election day
