ISLAMABAD, LAHORE —
Pakistan held its long-delayed elections Thursday, but sporadic violence and the nationwide suspension of mobile phone and internet services overshadowed the polls, raising credibility concerns about an already controversial vote.
Polling stations across the South Asian nation closed at 5 p.m. local time after nine hours of balloting, and the process largely remained peaceful.
An early morning Interior Ministry announcement just before the polls opened for some 128 million eligible voters said the disruption in phone service was meant to “mitigate potential security threats” and “maintain law and order.”
The ministry did not discuss the internet outage, which came a day after separate bomb blasts outside campaign offices in southwestern Baluchistan province on Wednesday killed 30 people. The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility for the bombings. Militant attacks in parts of the country on election day also killed several people, mostly policemen.
