Pakistan voted on Wednesday for the country’s second consecutive democratic transfer of power.
Polling began at 8AM and continued until 6PM despite calls by several major parties, including PML-N, PPP and PTI, to extend the polling time by an hour.
The parties had complained of “a slow voting process” and thus sought more time to facilitate voters — a request that was dismissed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The election campaign was marred by violence and culminated with a suicide blast outside a polling station in Quetta which claimed at least 29 lives.
However, undeterred several of Pakistan’s nearly 106 million registered voters stepped out to cast their ballot, including women voters in areas where they previously stood disenfranchised due to social norms.
As many as 12,570 candidates contested for a total of 849 seats of national and provincial assemblies.
