Pakistanis Vote In Tense Election

People in Pakistan are voting in a crucial election overshadowed by political violence and fears of fraud.

The parliamentary poll was delayed after the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, and is intended to complete a transition to civilian rule.

The two major opposition parties say President Pervez Musharraf's allies are planning massive fraud. They have vowed to protest if they suspect foul play.

One of the worst acts of violence saw 47 killed at a rally on Saturday.

Voting was slow in major cities on Monday morning.

The BBC's Chris Morris, in Islamabad, says 80 million people are eligible to vote, but many are expected to stay at home, largely because of fears about security.

He adds the slow start may also be due to people taking advantage of the public holiday and enjoying a lie-in.

He says that while voters are mindful of the broader significance of the election, concerns about the price of food and fuel are also affecting their choices.

Polls close at 1700 (1200 GMT).

Another correspondent said apprehensive voters might be waiting in front of their televisions to see if there were any attacks on polling stations. Since there were no reports of major incidents by midday, that might encourage them to get out and vote.

'Nation at stake'

Both Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which is leading in opinion polls, and the party of her former rival Nawaz Sharif reiterated concerns that the vote would be rigged on Sunday.

President Musharraf says the vote will be free and fair

Ms Bhutto's widower and successor as party leader, Asif Ali Zardari, has threatened street protests in the event of vote-rigging.

"I think we have reached the breaking point where if we don't band together, we will lose this great nation which we call Pakistan," he said on Sunday.

There are many local election observers on the ground. But apart from a contingent from the EU, not many international observers are present - some have not been invited, while others have stayed away due to concerns about gaining access to the vote.

Security tight

The authorities have stressed repeatedly that the vote will be free and fair.

However, one polling station in Lahore was shut down on Monday due to suspected irregularities, while an election officer in another constituency was arrested over hundreds of missing ballot papers.

President Musharraf has warned against street protests.

Close to half a million security personnel, including about 80,000 soldiers, have been deployed for the voting.

The BBC's Barbara Plett, outside a polling station in Lahore, described a barrier designed to prevent car bombs and a heavy police presence.

She said men and women were in separate queues for voting.

There were reports that some people had struggled to find their names on the register and were going away angry, suspecting rigging - though it may just have been poor organisation.

In one tribal area near Peshawar, she said, elders had banned women from voting. The area is a PPP stronghold and the ban may affect the outcome, since the party is well supported by women.

On Sunday, four soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit an explosive device in Balochistan province, police said.

In two separate incidents in Lahore, gunmen opened fire on supporters of Mr Sharif's PML-N party, with at least three people killed, including a candidate in the provincial election.

Two bombs went off in a volatile north-western province, but no injuries were reported.

Prospects

Analysts say polls suggest a fair vote is likely to result in a hung parliament, with none of the three biggest parties winning a majority.

Barbara Plett says that if the PPP then joins forces with pro-Musharraf parties, there may be a backlash within its rank and file, which blames the president for Ms Bhutto's murder.

But, she says, if it forms an alliance with Mr Sharif's party there could be confrontation with the presidency.

Mr Sharif has refused to work with the president unless he reinstates judges sacked when he imposed emergency rule late last year, in what was widely seen as an attempt to head off a challenge to his re-election as president.

It the two opposition parties jointly gain two-thirds of the seats, they may try to impeach President Musharraf.


Mr Musharraf stepped down as army chief late last year. He has ruled the country since seizing power in a coup in 1999.

The nuclear-armed country is a key ally in the so-called US "war on terror", with President Musharraf's government facing a growing pro-Taleban insurgency.

Pakistan AG 'predicts vote-rigging'

Pakistan's attorney general said that Monday's parliamentary election will be "massively rigged," according to what Human Rights Watch says is an audio recording it obtained.

The humanitarian watchdog, which is one of many voices to raise questions about the fairness of the electoral process in Pakistan, released a report and an audiotape that it says contains the voice of Attorney General Malik Qayyum.

The attorney general's office swiftly issued a stiff denial, saying the conversation "had been clearly fabricated and cannot be denounced and renounced in stronger words."

Human Rights Watch said Qayyum was "advising an unidentified person on what political party the person should approach to become a candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election" when he made the remark in November more than a month before opposition candidate Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.

The recording -- translated into English from Punjabi -- makes reference to opposition politicians Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, and Bhutto, the late former prime minister who was assassinated in Rawalpindi on December 27. The election was to be held in early January but was postponed to Monday after Bhutto was killed.

The recording says:

"Leave Nawaz Sharif (pause)....I think Nawaz Sharif will not take part in the election (pause).... If he does take part, he will be in trouble. If Benazir takes part she too will be in trouble (pause)... They will massively rig to get their own people to win. If you can get a ticket from these guys, take it (pause).... If Nawaz Sharif does not return himself, then Nawaz Sharif has some advantage. If he comes himself, even if after the elections rather than before, ..yes."

CNN's translation of the recording basically matches the one posted by Human Rights Watch, which said the recording was made on November 21 during a phone interview "with a member of the media."

"Qayyum, while still on the phone interview, took a call on another telephone and his side of that conversation was recorded," the group said.

In reaction to Human Rights Watch, the attorney general's office said Qayyum has "no nexus with the holding of elections nor would he be privy to any special election-related information." It says the attorney general's office doesn't partake in politics and doesn't ask people to switch affiliations. It also wonders why the "so-called journalist who had these manufactured tapes in November" didn't release them right away.

"The news item and the so-called fabricated conversation is just simply part of a malicious campaign to malign the government," Qayyum's office said.

Human Rights Watch said Qayyum is a close associate of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and headed a two-judge panel that convicted Bhutto and her husband in a corruption case, and the Supreme Court eventually said that the convictions were "politically motivated."

HRW told CNN the recording wasn't released earlier because it was being authenticated.