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More than 80 million registered voters are to determine on Monday, February 18, the make-up of the lower house of the national parliament and the four provincial assemblies.
Candidates are completing for 272 seats in the National, allocated on the basis of population.
Of that number, 148 seats are in Punjab, 61 in Sindh, 35 in North West Frontier, 14 in Baluchistan, 12 in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and 2 in the capital Islamabad.
Another 70 seats in the 342-seat legislature are reserved for non-Muslims (10) and women (60), which are allocated to parties according to how many votes they win.
Crucial
The vote is very crucial for the future of federal Pakistan after a tremulous year that saw the assassination of former premier and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and the imposition of a six-month state of emergency.
Embattled Pervez Musharraf, who assumed power in a 1990 military coup, has seen his public support plunge to all-time law.
His controversial reelection for a second five-year term by the outgoing parliament last October is not setting well with the opposition and the independent-minded judiciary.
Without his ruling coalition, which now enjoys a parliamentary majority, Musharraf could face impeachment.
The general air of tension in the country has dampened public enthusiasm for the elections, with few large public rallies being held.
Some observers fear a rigged elections could further escalate ethnic strife and undermine the unity of the fractured nation.
Frontrunners
The main players are :
· The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto
· Former premier Nawaz Sharif 's Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)
· The ruling Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q)
· The Jamiat Ulema-I-Islam (JUI-F) of Maulana Fazlur Rahman
· The Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM)
· The Awami National Party
Expected Results
Recent surveys and political atmosphere suggest that the PPP, which has been riding a sympathy wave since Bhutto's assassination, appears to be the most popular party in Pakistan.
It is likely to sweep the polls in the rural areas of Sindh, the home province of slain Bhutto.
The PPP had 63 seats in the outgoing parliament.
With a strong base in Punjab and the eastern parts of NWFP, poll surveys show the PML (N) enjoys support of nearly 24 percent of the electorate.
Independent observers do not expect the party, which Musharraf ousted from power in the 1999 coup, to be in a position for form the government.
The PML-N had 18 seats in the outgoing parliament.
The pro-Musharraf PML-Q, which emerged as the largest seat taker in the 2002 elections with 146 seats, is expected to do badly in the polls.
The party is expected to trail far behind the PPP and Sharif's PML-N.
The JUI, which once had a strong support in the NWFP and Balochistan, is not expected to do well after its overt and covert support to Musharraf dispirited many supporters.
The pro-Musharraf MQM regional party in Sindh is expected to keep the 18 seats it had in the outgoing legislature.
Elections Monitoring
Musharraf has promised pledged that the "mother of all elections" will be free and fair, but threatened that any opposition protests against the result would be crushed.
PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari has urged supporters to besiege polling stations to prevent rigging and threatened mass agitation if fraud denies his party victory.
Opposition parties have accused the regime o trying to rig the polls as his enemies could seek his impeachment if they win a two-thirds majority.
The election commission is accused of not enforcing its own directives with election billboards much larger in size than the legal limit erected in the high streets of all the major cities and towns.
There are also complaints about the interference of district governments in the election process.
A number of observers' missions are already in the country, including one from the EU, to monitor the polls.
Embattled Musharraf has come under pressure from his main Western allies, Washington and London, to ensure free and fair elections.
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