By: Jane Perlez and Carlotta Gall
Fearful of violence and deterred by confusion at polling stations, Pakistanis voted Monday in parliamentary elections that may fail to produce clear winners and could result in protracted post-election political skirmishing.
A number of clashes among polling officials and voters resulted in 10 people killed and 70 wounded, according to Pakistani television channels.
Suppressed by fears of violence and vote rigging, turnout was low, which was expected to favor President Pervez Musharraf and the party that supports him, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.
Within hours of the polls closing, however, several major defeats were reported for Musharraf's party, which some of his party workers took as a harbinger of bad news to come.
Though no official results were yet announced, those parliamentary seats appeared to go instead to the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the opposition faction of the same party that supports the president's main rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
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