Pakistan Election- Benazir's PPP and Sharif's PML-N are in Lead

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's opponents headed for election victory on Tuesday after voters rejected his former ruling party. Counting is on in Pakistan, where elections for its national and provincial assemblies were held on Monday.

No party is expected to win a majority in the 342-seat National Assembly but the opposition parties of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto (PPP) and another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif (PML-N), were set to be the biggest.

Early trends in Pakistan’s vote-count show that so far there is no clear winner, though former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's party appears to have taken a narrow lead, according to preliminary results.

While the Election Commission is yet to officially announce the turnout or any of the results, the initial trends do not augur well for Musharraf.

What has, however, emerged is that the ruling PML-Q, which backs Musharraf, seems to be the clear loser.

Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has been expected to reap a sympathy vote and was doing well, partial results showed.

Political Parties participating in Pakistan Election

Following are the political Parties participating in Today's Election.

PPP:
Benazir Bhutto's, Pakistan Peoples Party, now led by her widower Asif Zardari. The party hopes to get sympathy votes after Benazir's tragic death.

PML-N:
The PML-N is led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif who returned from years of exile last year is barred from serving another term as prime minister but his party has an understanding with the PPP to form a coalition government just in case.

PML-Q:
The PML-Q was formed mainly with defectors from Nawaz Sharif's party after the 1999 coup. Since then it has been the main political face of President Musharraf's government together with smaller provincial allies. It was the disputed victor of the last elections in 2002.

MMA:
Wrangling over an election boycott has led to a division in the six-party religious alliance, the MMA. The alliance emerged as the third largest group in the last elections and has sided with Musharraf. The largest party in the alliance, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam of Maulana Fazlur Rahman, has decided to contest the elections despite a boycott appeal by the alliance chief.

APDA:
The All Parties Democratic Alliance, a grouping of several opposition parties, almost all nationalist groups from Balochistan and one of the two main Pashtun nationalist groups from the north-west.

Among the parties boycotting the elections are cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaaf.

Election Day in Pakistan: Fear of more terror attacks

Finally, it's election time in Pakistan. Over eight crore people vote for the National Assembly as well as the provincial assemblies today. The run-up to the elections has seen widespread violence including the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Not in recent memory has there been an election that has attracted so much attention, despite it being well known that it won’t amount to much. It reflects the world’s anxiety over Pakistan. It also reflects how much the world wants the Pakistan ship to right itself with these elections and sail out of troubled waters.

There are apprehensions of widespread rigging. Over 1000 observers, including those from the United States and the European Union will be monitoring the elections.

Pakistan witnessed a violent start to the general elections on Monday as a PML-N candidate was shot dead in Lahore while a blast hit a polling booth in Swat Valley, even before the voting began.

Musharraf to stay out of PM selection

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said the political parties would have to decide on a prime ministerial candidate through mutual consultations in the event of the general election on Sunday, throwing up a fractured verdict and insisted that he would play no role in this process.

Interacting with a team from the Centre for Media and Democracy that is in the country to monitor the polls, Musharraf on Saturday said he would not interfere in the process to select a prime minister if none of the parties secured a majority in the next Parliament.

He was responding to a question from the observers on his role in the event of the polls throwing up a fractured verdict.

Musharraf responded that the choosing of a prime minister in such circumstances would be part of the Parliamentary process and the parties would have to decide on a prime minister through mutual consultations.

He also said the government had taken several steps to address concerns of rigging expressed by the political parties.

Observers from across the world were being given all assistance to monitor the polls to ensure that they are free and fair, Musharraf was quoted as saying by Geo New channel.

Jemima turns journalist in Pakistan

As cricket-turned-politician Imran Khan leads a boycott campaign against Monday's elections, much of the media attention in Pakistan has also focused on his former wife Jemima, who has travelled down from London to join him.

Jemima, who has led the protests against President Pervez Musharraf in London and famously described slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto as a kleptocrat, has kept away from the public gaze in Pakistan.

But donning a new avatar she turned journalist for a day when she met and interviewed Musharraf for British newspaper The Independent.

Imran said Jemima was passionate about the democratic process in Pakistan. Though no longer his wife, she could still play a larger political role.

Pakistan Election: Asif Zardari demands fair election from govt.

On the eve of parliamentary polls in Pakistan, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is 100 % confident of garnering a majority but warned President Pervez Musharraf-led government not to rig the election, which will force him to launch massive street protests leading to the break-up of the nation.

''Up till now I've shown absolute patience. My wife (former Premier Benazir Bhutto) has been killed, yet I've calmed people down, stopped them protesting. I've called no strike,'' Zardari said in an interview to The Sunday Times published on Sunday.

''But I'm telling you, people are absolutely on the warpath. If the elections are rigged the situation will go out of my hands. We'll have no choice but to take to the streets,'' he added.

Zardari was made co-chairman of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) after Bhutto's assassination on December 27 last year. Their son Bilawal, who is studying at Oxford, was named the Chairman of the party.

''I feel her (Bhutto's) spirit is with me and I won't let her down. But I fear they did not kill Benazir just to let us win... We've played our part responsibly.

''We've taken part in the elections rather than boycotted. Now it's up to them to give us a free run. People are angry, they are on the breadline, despite the 60 billion dollar windfall Musharraf has enjoyed over the past eight years.

''They want change and they want democracy. If we're allowed free and fair elections I'm 100 % sure we will get a majority,'' Zardari said, while warning that Pakistan would face massive violence which could lead to its break-up if the Musharraf government carries out alleged plans to rig or disrupt the polls.