By Simon Cameron-Moore
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Fears of violence kept manyPakistanis away from the polls on Monday with 80,000 troopsbacking up police to watch over a vote that could return aparliament set on driving President Pervez Musharraf fromoffice.
The election was originally scheduled for January 8 but theassassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto after arally in Rawalpindi on December 27 forced a delay.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. (3 a.m. British time) and will closeat 5 p.m. (12 p.m. British time). Results are expected to startemerging by midnight and trends should be clear on Tuesdaymorning.
The death of Bhutto, the most progressive, Western-friendlypolitician in a Muslim nation rife with anti-Americansentiment, raised concern about stability in the nuclear-armedstate. Well over 450 people have died in militant-relatedviolence so far this year.
Voting got off to a slow start. Monday has been declared aholiday with financial markets and schools closed, and trafficwas very thin on roads in cities across the country.
A woman voter, Azra Khalid Shaikh, heading into a pollingstation in the city of Karachi, said she wanted to set thecountry back on a path to democracy: "This is the startingpoint."
Former army chief Musharraf's popularity plunged over thepast year because of his manoeuvres to hold on to power whichincluded purging the judiciary and six weeks of emergency rule.
Many Pakistanis also blame the government for risingprices, shortages of staples and all too frequent power cuts.
Security concerns affect large parts of Pakistan, whereMusharraf has ruled since seizing power in a 1999 coup, and asuicide attack on Bhutto party supporters killed 47 people in anorthwestern town on Saturday.
"You see suicide bombings everywhere and you can see theempty streets on polling day. It's all because of fear," saidcivil servant Mohammad Ijaz who was voting in the city ofLahore where three people were killed in shootings late onSunday.
A supporter of the opposition party led by former primeminister Nawaz Sharif was shot dead in Punjab province afterpolls opened, police said.
Militants set off bombs at four polling stations in thenorthwest, three in the Swat Valley, before polls opened but noone was hurt. Army gunship helicopters later attacked suspectedmilitant hideouts in Swat, residents said.
COALITION SEEN
The other worry is rigging, which could prompt oppositionparties to reject the result and call for street protests,raising concern over how the powerful army would react.
The country of 160 million people has alternated betweencivilian and army rule throughout its 60-year history.
Otherwise, a sympathy vote is expected to help Bhutto'sPakistan People's Party (PPP) become the largest party in the342-seat National Assembly.
"Bhutto's mission is still alive, we will work for that,"said Manzoor Ali, 60, voting with his wife and daughter inBhutto's native district of Larkana in Sindh province.
Most analysts doubt the PPP can win a majority. Who itchooses for coalition partners will be vital to Musharraf.
Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who is co-chairman ofthe PPP, issued a conciliatory call for unity on the eve of thevote.
An alliance between the PPP and Sharif's party is whatMusharraf dreads as Sharif is intent on bringing him down,perhaps through impeachment. Analysts say Musharraf wants acoalition between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League thatbacks him.
Western allies, who want a stable Pakistan to focus onfighting militancy, are hoping for a smooth vote, as areinvestors in a stock market that rose 40 percent last year buthas shed about 3 percent since Bhutto's death.
International credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's saidon Monday Pakistan was among several countries facing risks onaccount of political instability.
Nearly 81 million people are registered to vote. Severalhundred foreigners, including a team of U.S. senators, andthousands of Pakistanis have fanned out to monitor the vote butare not allowed to do exit polls.
"We don't presume to suggest that by hitting severalpolling stations to know whether the poll is fair. All we cando is get a sense," U.S. Senator Joseph Biden told reporters inLahore.
Biden has said the United States should cut military aid toPakistan unless the election is credible but said unconditionaleconomic assistance should be increased if it is fair.
(To read more about the Pakistan election double click on;and visit the Reuters blog "Pakistan: Now or Never?" athttp://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/)
(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony in Islamabad,Kamran Haider and Jon Hemming in Lahore, Sahar Ahmed in Karachiand Simon Gardner in Larkana; Editing by Robert Birsel)
