Tensions are at an all time high as polling kicks off on in a troubled, oil-rich, nuclear-armed nation. Security forces have been deployed across the country in the expectations of mass rioting.
“We have a charismatic madman on one side, with armed militias already saying they will take to the streets in case he loses,” says Saleem Khattak, a correspondent of Geo News in the capital Washington DC. “On the other hand, there is some fellow, I forget, but he’s not the other one. In fact, that is his nom de guerre in the battlefield: Not The Other One.”
For decades, the oil-rich military machine has had tensions with a whole host of nations further south in central and South America, though its military engagement goes far beyond the Americas. It has also had a history of installing tinpot dictators and funding militias of religious zealots throughout the world.
It has had an imperfect march to democracy itself, having achieved full universal franchise only in 1965.
“We are watching the situation carefully,” said UN Secretary General António Guterres. “Our peacekeeping forces are ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.”
