By NNN-Xinhua
Islamabad : The polling of Pakistan’s general elections has come to an end Monday afternoon.
The Presiding Officers started to count the votes at the polling stations in presence of the candidates, their election agents and polling agents immediately after the end of the polling.
People present at polling stations who have not cast their votes will still be given time to exercise their right. Some polling stations remain open after the close of the polling.
The polling of general elections was conducted in a peaceful manner despite some “unpleasant” incidents at a few places, Secretary of Election Commission Kunwar Dilshad was quoted by the official Associated Press of Pakistan as saying.
After counting the ballot papers the Presiding Officer will prepare a statement of the count indicating the number of votes secured by a candidate, and send it to the Returning Officer along with the other election materials.
The Presiding Officers will announce the result of count at the polling stations and paste a copy of the result outside the polling stations, according to a statement made by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The unofficial results of the polling are expected to be released when the counting completes.
President Pervez Musharraf urged parties to accept the results with grace. “Those winning should show humility and those losing should show grace,” he said when talking to reporters after casting his vote in Rawalpindi.
The party that gained majority votes in the elections will form the government, Musharraf said.