Voting has opened in a referendum to decide whether Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf should remain as president.
The ballot asks people whether they want Gen Musharraf, who ousted prime minister Mr Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless military coup in 1999, to stay in power for five years.
It links the general's tenure to a drive against corruption, economic and social reform and the return of democracy through parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
Opposition political and religious parties have urged their followers to boycott the vote, and the final turnout figure will be a key test of Gen Musharraf's grassroots support.
Officials are hoping for more than 30 per cent, a figure that foreign observers have said would be credible, out of the total electorate of 70 million people.
But opposition groups complain that Gen Musharraf has trampled on the 1973 constitution and is preparing to rig the outcome through multiple voting and ballot tampering.
They say the government is ferrying its supporters and civil servants to polling stations and that inadequate voter registration and monitoring of the ballot boxes will encourage fraud.
People queued at public buildings for the 9 a.m. (3 a.m. Irish time) start to voting, and others showed their intent by riding around the streets with Gen Musharraf's face stamped over Pakistani flags.
Civil servant Mr Salim Khattak said he had not been forced to vote but admitted the government provided "facilities" to encourage his colleagues to participate.
AFP