Post date: May 09, 2013 9:28:5 PM
Pakistan's most violent electoral campaign carried out under Taliban threats, with more than a hundred people killed in Taliban attacks, comes to an end 48 hours before the May 11 poll.
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (MAY 9, 2013) (REUTERS) - After three turbulent weeks, Pakistan's election campaign came to an end on midnight (1900GMT) on Thursday (May 9) with rallies by all political parties drawing to a close.
The polls, already Pakistan's most violent, will mark the first time a civilian government has completed a full term and handed over to another administration.
It will be the 11th general election for Pakistan since 1962.Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan who injured his back after falling from a mechanical lift at an election rally this week, addressed thousands of cheering supporters in gathered in Islamabad via video link from his hospital bed.
"Allah better knows what will happen the day after tomorrow (election day). I do not know. However, I request you to vote for candidates of Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) whoever it may be. I accept that we have made mistakes, I agree that some of our candidates might not be up to our standards, but I promise you from the bottom of my heart that every MPA and MNA (members of Parliament) will either fit himself into the standards of Tehreek-e-Insaf, will have to change himself or we will not let him stay in our party," Khan said from his hospital in Lahore.
Khan has predicted a "tsunami" of support for his party in Saturday's (May 11) general election as voters, particularly urban youth, turn against the traditional grandees of Pakistani politics after years of misrule and corruption.
"We have come to see Imran Khan and to vote for him. We will make him win," said labourer Mohmmad Akram, as the crowd danced and clapped.
Meanwhile, Bilawal Zardari Bhutto, the son of assassinated Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), also addressed a final rally in Islamabad -- also on video link.
Reminding the crowd of the hanging of his grandfather, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the founder of PPP and the assassination of his mother in a suicide blast, Bilawal urged thousands of his supporters to come out and vote for the "martyrs' Party."
"It is your duty. This was the founder's (Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Bilawal's grandfather) dream for you. The martyred BB (Benazir Bhutto) also wanted to take Pakistantowards this destiny. And now, the heir to this dream is asking for your support," he said.
Election campaigns across the country were marred by terror threats and Talibanattacks which claimed the lives of at least 117 people including candidates.
Opinion polls have shown Khan's PTI trailing Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) in Punjab province, which with 183 of the national assembly's 342 seats, is the key to power.
The PTI may also struggle to beat the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which presided for the past five years over a near-failed economy and was widely castigated for allowing the country's Taliban insurgency to spiral out of control.
However, the media's sympathetic coverage of Khan's election-rally accident could sway voters seduced by the prospect of a third force in a political landscape so long dominated by the PML-N and PPP.
The likely outcome of the election is a hung parliament, where no one party commands a majority, which means there will have to be a coalition government.
Analysts said a weak coalition government, with Khan's party, which remains untested and has only briefly held one seat in parliament, could suit the military.
The military has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 66-year history, through coups or from behind the scenes and is still the real centre of power in the country.