World ends: Pakistan's elections go off without a hitch?

[Misty]

So, after years of fear, talk of massive rigging and suicide bombing galore, Pakistan's parliamentary elections... have gone pretty much normally (albeit with 24 dead, but for Pakistan that's a quiet day). And as predicted by the polls, Musharraf's party got a drubbing - counts seem to show the two major opposition parties got 70% of the vote combined.


Of course, this is probably just the beginning, but it's certainly an impressive start.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

The results are pretty much what I'd heard they were expecting. As for no election rigging, chalk that up to Musharraf, apparently, not being a dick. Or at least not a big enough dick to risk his country's stability. I wonder what India's response is to this.

 

[Archaic]

Not without a hitch. Voter turnout was 40%, with a large number of people, especially in more rural areas, having been intimidated by anti-government militias. Musharraf's party would've likely lost anyway with this much of a drubbing, but if those voters hadn't been frightened off, there's the distinct possibility his party would've had enough numbers that they might have needed to be included in the ruling coalition.