Hundreds of millions of Pakistanis came to the voting booth in the 2018 election held yesterday - a popular feast that is expected to be a milestone for the country in South Asia.
But it was tarnished with the brunt of the violence on election day - starting with a terrorist act that at least 31 were killed in the worst attack. It did not mean to guess, but the attack was suspected by someone who blew himself out of polling stations in Quetta, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
A number of concerns overshadowed Pakistan's general election held on Wednesday, July 7. Young people, Pakistan's first voters are also worried about electoral fraud.
The rivalry involved a Tehreek-e-Insaf Justice Party (PTI) party led by former cricketer Imran Khan, with Pakistan-Muslim-League-Nawaz (PML-N) Pakistan party led by Shabahz Sharif, the younger brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif- - who is currently a corruption accused and is now in jail.
Imran Khan is a former international cricketer who has long entered Pakistani politics more than two decades ago, but he has never run a government. This time, many observers believe that he is a military-elected candidate and they are working to weaken his rival.
Nawaz Sharif was a three-time prime minister who was disqualified from office last year after a corruption investigation prompted by the Panama Papers. He went to London to spend time with his ailing wife, but returned dramatically with his daughter Maryam in early July, despite being sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Mr Sharif blames the military for plotting against him because he has publicly criticized them hard but the military has firmly refused to engage in any matter.
Then Nawaz's brother Shehbaz Sharif succeeds him in leading the PML-N campaign and seeks victory to become the next prime minister.
In addition to these two camps, there is a convincing third axis, namely the party of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Bilawal is the son of the most prominent former Pakistani prime minister, Benazir Bhutto and former 11th president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari. Various observers predict that Bilawal and PPP will be able to produce enough votes to secure seats in parliament.
Indications of fraud and concerns in the election
As reported by Express the alleged military proximity to Imran Khan reaps a negative reaction for some voters. Because, it revived a dark memory of a militaristic government in Pakistan for 71 years.
Imran has repeatedly denied allegations that he was backed by the military and condemned candidates who exploited the issue to tarnish his campaign trail.
Despite this, various poll results continue to show that Imran and PTI were able to win the election.
But, Shehbaz Sharif, the leader of PML-N said his party “wholly rejects” the election results because of irregularities. He wrote on Twitter: “Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) wholly rejects the results of General Elections 2018 due to manifest and massive irregularities.
The campaign has been indicated by fraud and violence, and the Pakistan Human Rights Commission says there is an "overt effort" to manipulate the polls. The problem is, there is a delay in releasing the results. However, Baber Yaqoob, secretary of the Electoral Commission, said "Postponement of poll results due to technical errors, no conspiracy."
Media analysts also highlighted the unusual delay in the announcement of unofficial results in a number of constituencies, especially in the province of PML-N, Punjab.
Shehbaz Sharif, leader of the PML-N party said the vote counting process was "unbearable and unacceptable" because it was full of manipulation and massive.
"It is a glaring cheating that everyone will cry, they have brought Pakistan back 30 years ago." he said.
Mr Khan has promised to tackle corruption but his rival accuses him of benefiting from alleged interference by the military, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half of its history.
Mr Sharif, who won the last election, has been jailed for corruption following a scandal stemming from a Panama Papers leak.
The PTI party currently leads in 109 national assembly chairs, while PML-N leads at around 67 seats, reports local media. However, only votes from 34% of the polls so far have been counted, the Dawn newspaper said.
The number of voters is estimated to be between 50% and 55% of the 106 million registered voters, AFP reported.
Pakistan's transition to an effective democracy
Since independence in 1947, Pakistan has existed between civilian and military government. The vote yesterday will show the second time that a civilian government has handed over power to others after a full tenure - an important history.
But few people in Pakistan can celebrate the power of democracy. The seizure of the vote has been marked by the tension between the ruling Muslim-Pakistan Party of Nawaz (PML-N) and clinging to military power.
The PML-N complains about actions voiced by security agencies, with allegations of court assistance. Nearly 17,000 party members face criminal cases for violating unregulated electoral rules.
With media on his knee, it's left to activists on Twitter and Facebook to continue the fight. The voices here remain energetic and openly angry at legal and military ties, accusing them of violating their mandate and preventing voters from using their will in elections.
Conversations in social media continue to fluctuate while attacks are threatening and even kidnapping journalists as well,
Information in social media is bringing Pakistan to an effective democracy, to broadcast what they can not get on their screen or in their news and newspaper news.
Curiously, before the election yesterday, successive polls put Sharif in front of all opponents, and showed that he had won the sympathy for himself - and the hatred of the military-court's attempt to reverse the political landscape.
What happened and what people said?
On last Friday, the song - "ye jo dehshat gardi hai, is ke peehchay wardi hai" ("the military uniform behind this terrorism") - sounded hectic on the streets of Rawalpindi, near the military headquarters.
In a rowdy demonstration, a seven-year trial of narcotics cases involving supporters of the PMI-N Sharif party, Hanif Abbasi was moved from August to 21 July, and a life sentence imposed at 23:30 on Saturday, four days before the election , automatically knocked him out of the race. (BBC)
Khan and the military denied the existence of collusion but he told the BBC that the current military leader, Gen Bajwa, "is probably the most democratic man we have ever seen". PTI is supported by controversial groups, including those linked to al-Qaeda.
As already broadcast by Pakistan TV station Geo TV, delivered by Areeba Hussain, 20, a Lahore University student majoring in Science Management.
"Cheating happened last time around the polls and I would not be surprised if this time it happened again," said Hussain.
Waqas Rehman, another student expressed similar concerns. "I am also worried about the fraud, it is difficult to distinguish which is propaganda and which is the fact because this is because democratic governance, in practice, lacks effort and transparency according to international standards,"
Fatima Waqar, student of Lahore School of Economics. "This is Pakistan, I would be fooled into thinking that cheating is completely gone and elections are fair," he said.
Waleed Akram, 20, admitted hearing about ballot fraud at least in three different areas in the last election. But he declared that it was none of his business. "Democracy is the way forward, no other form of government except democracy is appropriate for this country," said Akram, a medical student at the National University of Pakistan.
Heyam Basir, 20, said the next government should tackle the water crisis in Karachi. In addition, it is also necessary to add police to reduce crime rates. The new Pakistani government is expected to work more honestly about the Purpose of Sustainable Development, rather than building more roads.
Pakistan is facing economic problems and high unemployment. In some of Pakistan's poorer areas, even in big cities like Karachi, many residents live with shortages of clean water or electricity. The weakness of the Pakistani government is seen as a problem for foreign countries.
Source: BBC, Al Jazeera, Express, CNN, GEO TV, Liputan6, Cipe (www.cipe.org)