The blood-tainted and unusually-long election campaign for the general elections 2008 came to an end across Pakistan on Saturday at 12 midnight.
In the middle of the campaign before the election date was extended from January 08 to February 18, Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, and hours before it finally ended on Saturday, a terrorist act left at least 37 dead in Parachinar.
Due to different reasons, elections for three National Assembly seats and seven provincial seats have been postponed. They are NA-207, NA-119 and NA-42. Elections on three provincial assembly seats in the NWFP and four in the Punjab have been also put off.
Hence, for 269 general seats of the National Assembly and 570 seats of the provincial assemblies, more than 7,200 candidates are in the field. The number of eligible voters stands at 81.2 million.
In all, 64,176 polling stations with 0.174 million polling booths have been established all over Pakistan. For the purpose, 0.52 million polling personnel have been appointed by the concerned returning officers.
More than 24,000 polling stations have been declared sensitive and Army personnel are also being deployed at certain places to ensure the electoral process is completed without any trouble or hindrance.
Polling will commence at 8 in the morning and conclude at 5 pm without any break, and it is speculated that election results would be compiled and announced much earlier as compared to the general elections in 2002.