Counting began shortly after polls closed in Pakistan yesterday in a controversial referendum to extend military President Pervez Musharraf's rule, with the government saying it would be happy with a turnout of 25 percent.
Initial results are expected to start trickling in during the course of the evening. Musharraf, voting just after midday, said he was "very confident" of a victory that would grant him five more years in power.
PHOTO: AFP
Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1999 but has since become a key US ally in the "war on terror," has asked for a mandate to remain in power to continue economic and political reforms and to check religious extremism.
"We believe that a voters' turnout of 25 percent and above will represent a widespread public support for the president's economic and political reforms in the interests of the country," Information Minister Nisar Memon told the official APP news agency.
But evidence emerged that machinery of the state was being used to influence the result, with many public sector workers saying they had been pressured into casting their ballot.
A team of journalists also saw ballot boxes being stuffed with "yes" votes by an official at one polling station in Rawalpindi.
Musharraf is expected to win easily -- his strong stance against corruption has won him widespread support -- but the turnout will be closely watched as a barometer of just how popular he is.
"I am very confident," Musharraf said as he voted in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan's political parties oppose the referendum as undemocratic and unconstitutional and have called for a boycott, but Musharraf has dismissed them as being divorced from public opinion.
Many of Pakistan's roughly 5 million public-sector employees complained they were being forced into polling booths.
At one polling station at a government college for women in Rawalpindi, the presiding officer stuffed ballot boxes with several "yes" votes in view of a news team.
"I have been told by the principal to complete 500 votes at my booth," she said, explaining that only 150 people had cast their votes. "What can we do? We are government servants and we have to do our job."
Also in Rawalpindi, around 100 employees of the state's Water and Sanitation Authority arrived at the Islamia High School polling station with their superiors.
"We are being dragged to vote," said one employee, who declined to give his name.
The government denied putting pressure on its employees.
"If you force me to go and vote, you cannot force me to say `yes,'" Information Secretary Anwar Mahmood said. "If you force me, I will go and vote `no.'"
The referendum asked: "For the continuation of the local government system, restoration of democracy, sustainability and continuation of reforms, elimination of sectarianism and extremism and completion of Quaid-i-Azam's concept, do you want to elect President General Pervez Musharraf for the next five years as President of Pakistan?"
Quaid-i-Azam (The Great Leader) refers to the nation's founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
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