Pakistan's elections were thrown into chaos on Thursday as the counting of votes was delayed by more than 12 hours amid a nationwide blackout of mobile phone services. The government said the outage was a security measure to prevent terrorist attacks, but the opposition parties accused it of rigging the polls and manipulating the results.
The elections were seen as a crucial test for the country's democracy, which has been marred by military coups, corruption scandals, and political violence. The main contenders were the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by the jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by the former cricket star Imran Khan, and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by the son of the assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The voting process was largely peaceful, except for some isolated incidents of violence and intimidation. However, the problems started after the polls closed at 6 p.m. local time, when the mobile phone services were shut down across the country, affecting millions of users. The government said the move was necessary to prevent the use of remote-controlled bombs and other devices by militants, who had carried out several attacks in the run-up to the elections, killing more than 150 people.
But the opposition parties and the media criticized the decision, saying it hampered the communication and transparency of the vote counting. They also alleged that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was not functioning properly, and that the results transmission system was faulty and slow. They demanded an explanation and an audit of the results, and warned of protests and legal action if the elections were not fair and free.
The ECP admitted that there were some technical glitches in the system, but denied any foul play. It said the results were being compiled manually, and that it would take time to announce the final outcome. It also said that it had not received any formal complaints from any party or candidate.
According to the unofficial and partial results reported by the local media, the PTI was leading in most of the constituencies, followed by the PML-N and the PPP. However, none of the parties seemed to have a clear majority in the 272-seat National Assembly, the lower house of the parliament, which means that a coalition government would be likely. The official results are expected to be announced on Friday or Saturday.