Post date: May 19, 2013 11:39:31 AM
An upmarket constituency of Pakistan's violence-plagued city of Karachi votes again under tight security.
KARACHI, PAKISTAN (MAY 19, 2013)(REUTERS) - An upmarket constituency of Pakistan's violence-plagued city of Karachivoted again under tight security on Sunday (May 19), a day after gunmen killed a senior politician from a reformist party in the district and a week after general elections.
The re-vote took place at 43 of 180 polling stations. The Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), which wanted re-polling of the whole constituency, boycotted the vote.Last week's election gave the MQM 18 of 19 national assembly seats in Karachi,Pakistan's biggest city. The constituency, known blandly as NA-250, where Sunday's re-poll is taking place is thought to be a stronghold of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI).
"On the 11th we were not allowed to do polling at all. All the presiding officers were hijacked by one the (political) party. Today it was very important that people come and vote in this area," said Naeem Sultan, a businessman.
General elections were held on May 11.
"I would like to pay my tribute to the voters of NA-250 who have come out to vote despite the threats that have been received. Despite the brutal murder of our (provincial) senior vice president Zahra Hussain. It's very brave of them, it shows people believe in democracy. it shows that people of Karachi have woken up. They are against militancy. They want a level playing field," said Shah Mehmood Qureshi, senior vice president of the PTI.
It was not immediately clear who killed Zara Shahid Hussain, a leading member of the PTI party of former cricket star Imran Khan.
Imran blamed the killing on the MQM party, which has a stranglehold on the city. MQM leaders denied responsibility, condemned the killing and demanded a retraction from Imran.
The attack in the upscale Defence area, the family neighbourhood of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, capped a bloody election campaign in which around 150 people were killed nationwide.
Last Saturday's (May 11) elections handed a landslide victory to opposition leaderNawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
But results from a handful of constituencies across the country are still uncertain amid accusations of vote-rigging. There is re-polling in a few others where security issues prevented voting.
Whatever the result, Sharif's national landslide win is assured. But as Pakistan's financial centre, Karachi generates around half of government revenues and stability in the city is key to stability of the whole country.
Karachi, the nuclear-armed country's key port, is home to 18 million people. It typically sees about a dozen murders a day, a combination of political killings, attacks by the Pakistan Taliban and sectarian militant groups, and street crime.