Pakistan awaits election results

(Vatican Radio) Results are expected to start trickling in soon from today’s general election in Pakistan. While it is still too early to tell which candidate has won the leadership, millions of Pakistanis succeeded in casting their vote despite weeks of pre-election violence and a string of attacks on Election Day.

A series of bombing attacks in Karachi and Peshawar failed to discourage millions of Pakistanis, eager for political and social change, from casting their votes in the general election Saturday.

The election was historic for several reasons. It marked the first transfer of power from one elected civilian government to another. Registered voters numbered 86.2 million, among them 36 million first-time voters. It had the highest number of women political candidates at 161. And it was also the deadliest.

While the government had deployed 600,000 security personnel to 70,000 polling stations, still a series of blasts killed more than 10 people and wounded dozens.

The blasts in Karachi hit the offices of the Awami National Party, which along with the Pakistan People’s Party, was targeted by Taliban militants during the run-up to the election. More than 130 people were killed in pre-election attacks.

The two main candidates in this election included former cricket star Imran Khan and former two-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Either would need to win 172 of the 342 seats to form a majority government. But with no clear winner, it could be weeks before a coalition government is formed.

In a democracy as new and fragile as Pakistan’s, too long of a delay in forming a coalition could risk the new government’s credibility with the country’s 180 million people, eager to see a stronger economy, repairs in infrastructure, an end to corruption and an end to confrontation with the Taliban.

Listen to the report by Laura Ieraci: