Lacklustre campaign ends; fears of low turnout

As the sun sets on a chilly winter day, a group of bored-looking men gather at a bustling market in the Pakistani capital to hear a candidate contesting Monday's general election.

The only difference is that the candidate is not there in person; he appears in a video beamed on a large screen that has been hastily set up in a corner of the market, promising voters he will improve civic amenities and provide better education for their children.

Within minutes, the fairly large crowd that had gathered thins out. "This is no fun at all. All the good things associated with election campaigns are gone," complained Fida Hussain, a shop help who was part of the crowd.

The carnival-like atmosphere and boisterous charm associated with election campaigns in Pakistan has been conspicuous by its absence, falling victim to a spate of deadly suicide bombings of candidates and election rallies.

With campaigning set to end at midnight, candidates admit that the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December dealt a body blow to their efforts to drum up support for their bid to enter the national and four provincial assemblies.

Arshed Bhatti, an activist contesting from a prestigious National Assembly constituency in Islamabad, said, "People used to celebrate election campaigns, but now there is such an atmosphere that no one is even willing to go out and canvass for votes because of the fear of suicide bombers".

Adding to the worries of candidates like Bhatti is the fear that it will be easier for the establishment to rig any poll with a low turnout.

Attacks on election candidates and polling stations which continued even on the last day of campaigning, when nine people were killed in a blast outside a Pakistan People's Party office in Kurram Agency, has heightened fears among parties about a low turnout on Monday.

Pakistani elections in the past few years have traditionally witnessed low turnouts and Bhatti said he would be 'surprised if a little more than 20 per cent' of voters exercised their franchise in his constituency.

"A low turnout will make it easier for the establishment to corrupt the result," Bhatti said.       Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party have both vowed to launch street protests if the polls are rigged and they do not emerge as the largest parties as is being projected by several surveys conducted in the past few weeks.

But President Pervez Musharraf has pledged to hold free and fair polls and warned there will be 'zero tolerance' for any attempts to disrupt the elections or to stage protests after the results are announced.

One observer remarked that Bhutto's assassination 'sucked the oxygen' out of the canvassing, and the electioneering never really gathered steam even when political leaders took to the campaign trail in early February after an intense cold wave and the end of a 40-day period of mourning for Bhutto.

"We were gearing up a fun-filled campaign but everything changed after Benazir Bhutto's assassination. If they could kill her, we are nobody," said Bhatti.

Political parties have instead depended on television spots and a handful of rallies addressed by top leaders like Sharif and Zardari.

Security for these rallies was very tight and the leaders often kept changing their schedules to keep any potential attackers guessing about their time of arrival at a venue.