ISLAMABAD – Pakistan voted on Wednesday for the country’s secondconsecutive democratic transfer of power.
Polling began at 8AM and continued until 6PM despite calls by several majorparties, including PML-N, PPP and PTI, to extend the polling time by anhour.
The parties had complained of “a slow voting process” and thus sought moretime to facilitate voters — a request that was dismissed by the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP).
The election campaign culminated with a suicide blast outside a pollingstation in Quetta which claimed at least 29 lives.
However, undeterred several of Pakistan’s nearly 106 million registeredvoters stepped out to cast their ballot, including women voters in areaswhere they previously stood disenfranchised due to social norms.
As many as 12,570 candidates contested for a total of 849 seats of nationaland provincial assemblies.
Doors of polling stations closed as the clock struck 6PM. However, voterspresent inside polling stations are being allowed to cast their votes.
Counting has now begun at 85,307 polling stations across the country as the11th General Election has concluded.
Geo News will start transmitting results from 7PM onwards as per the ECP’scode of conduct.