ISLAMABAD - Despite a bloody campaign marred by Taliban attacks, Pakistan holds historic elections today pitting a former cricket star against a two-time prime minister once exiled by the army and an incumbent blamed for power blackouts and inflation.
The vote marks the first time in Pakistan's 65-year history that a civilian government has completed its full term and handed over power in democratic elections. Previous governments have been toppled by military coups or sacked by presidents allied with the powerful army.
Deadly violence struck again Friday, with a pair of bombings against election offices in northwest Pakistan that killed three people and a shooting that killed a candidate in the southern city of Karachi.
More than 130 people have been killed in the run-up to the vote, mostly secular party candidates and workers. Most attacks have been traced to Taliban militants, who have vowed to disrupt a democratic process they say runs counter to Islam.
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The vote is being watched closely by Washington since the U.S. relies on the nuclear-armed country of 180 million people for help in fighting Islamic militants and negotiating an end to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.
The rise of former cricket star Imran Khan, who has almost mythical status in Pakistan, has challenged the dominance of the country's two main political parties, making the outcome of the election hard to call.
The election of the national and provincial assemblies comes at a time of widespread despair in Pakistan, as the country suffers from weak economic growth, rampant electricity and gas shortages and a deadly Taliban insurgency.
There is concern that the violence could benefit Islamist parties and those who take a softer line toward the militants, including Khan and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, because they were able to campaign more freely.
After more than a decade in the political wilderness, the Oxford-educated Khan has emerged as a force in the last two years with the simple message of "change." He has tapped into the frustrations of millions of Pakistanis who believe the traditional politicians have been more interested in enriching themselves through corruption than governing.
The two main parties that have dominated politics - the Pakistan People's Party, which led the most recent government, and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N - have ruled the country a total of five times in the past 25 years.
Khan has also struck a chord by criticizing Pakistan's unpopular alliance with the U.S. and controversial American drone attacks against Islamic militants in the country's northwest tribal region.
Support for Khan may have increased out of sympathy following a freak accident this week at a political rally in which he fell 15 feet off a forklift, fracturing three vertebrae and a rib. He is expected to make a full recovery and seems to be making the most of the accident.
