Pakistan’s elections are usually noisy affairs – with raucous rallies, trucks blaring campaign slogans and politics dominating conversations. But, says journalist Mehreen Zahra-Malik, today’s election is one that feels like no other.
While the PML-N’s Nawaz Sharif is predicted to be the winner, it is Imran Khan who is said to be the country’s most popular politician. Yet after vocally opposing Pakistan’s powerful army, he is in jail having received multiple prison sentences.
Nosheen Iqbal hears how his party’s candidates are also facing serious obstacles in their campaigning – including the banning of candidates and even the party’s cricket bat logo, which is a heavy blow in a country where 40% of the population is illiterate. Rallies are often banned, and internet problems appear when Khan holds online events, while on the streets posters are ripped down.
It has all led to one of the most subdued elections Malik can remember. She explains how Pakistanis feel about the military, who are throwing their weight behind Sharif even as they work against Khan, and what it says about the country’s fragile democracy as voters head to the polls.
Photograph: Shahzaib Akber/EPA
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