Pakistanis vote in first election since 1999

From the rugged northern frontier to the teeming southern port of Karachi, Pakistanis began voting today in the first general election since a coup in 1999 ended democratic rule.

Within hours of the polls opening one person was dead in a shoot-out between supporters of rival politicians in southern Sindh province. Two other people were injured in the clash in Nashahro.

Election day violence at polling stations is not uncommon in Pakistan’s rough and tumble politics.

Nearly 100 political parties were taking part in the vote to select a national parliament and four provincial legislatures.

Whoever wins will have to find a way to work with President Pervez Musharraf, the army general who has laid the groundwork for remaining Pakistan’s main power no matter what the election brings.

As he cast his ballot in nearby Rawalpindi, Musharraf told reporters: "Power will be handed over to the elected government, whichever party wins."

A team of international observers were in Pakistan to monitor the vote amid claims by opposition and human rights workers that the election was being manipulated. The government has denied those charges saying the vote would be 'transparent and fair'.

Early voting was light at polls in the federal capital of Islamabad and southern Karachi.

Razia Parveen, her head wrapped in a traditional scarf, carefully pressed her inked thumb next to her name at a polling station at a boy’s school in Islamabad.

"This is my right to vote. God willing the election will bring some positive change to the country," she said as she slipped her ballot into a battered green box.

Voting was briefly suspended at several polling stations in Karachi because the ballot boxes were damaged or had not yet arrived, or because the presiding officers were not present.

Throughout the country, security was tight for fear of attacks, mainly by violent groups opposed to Musharraf’s decision to ally the country with the United States in its war on terrorism in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Pakistani authorities have also arrested several suspected intelligence agents accused of working for rival India to disrupt the vote.

With surveys showing pro-Musharraf parties running neck-and-neck with parties controlled by Pakistan’s two best-known political families, results of the voting were impossible to predict.

The leaders of the two main parties - former prime minister Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan Peoples Party and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League - are both out of the race.

A decree by Musharraf barring anyone convicted of a crime in absentia eliminated Bhutto, who has been convicted of corruption and is living in self-imposed exile. Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in 1999, is also on the sidelines, having accepted a 10 year exile to Saudi Arabia in return for his release from prison.

Still, the two former prime ministers remain a strong force, with their parties expected to provide the stiffest challenge.

A coalition of Islamic hard-liners called the United Action Forum, comprised of six religious parties, was also expected to win support amid a strong undercurrent of resentment among many Pakistanis over their nation’s support for US involvement in Afghanistan.

The election was being held under controversial new rules decreed by Musharraf earlier this year.

All candidates must have a university degree, a law that eliminated 90% of Pakistan’s mostly illiterate population. Musharraf has also given himself the power to dissolve parliament and sack the prime minister whenever he sees fit.

The general won a controversial referendum earlier this year and will remain president for at least another five years, but he has insisted he would allow the prime minister to run the country.