The people of Pakistan have made a choice, and it is time to respect their verdict and uphold it, the mainstream media commented on Friday as they predicted that the outcome of the controversy-ridden polls will not provide any closure for the cash-strapped country’s political crisis.

“Crisis and instability will likely continue to plague the nation,” the Dawn newspaper said in a stinging editorial, a day after millions cast their ballot in the hope of having a stable government that can address their woes.

From repeatedly delaying the elections on one pretext or the other to failing to protect the legitimacy of its last act, it betrayed its mandate by organising an exercise that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, the newspaper commented.

“It is difficult not to be disappointed: given the number of times the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) hid behind the Constitution’s ‘free and fair’ condition to justify putting them off ‘till it was ready’, one would have imagined the exercise, whenever it was eventually held, would be largely irreproachable,” it said.

“The caretaker government and the entire machinery of the state are equally culpable in robbing it of its sanctity. Their actions worsened political polarisation, and they did not know when to stop” it said.

It acknowledged that the blame does not lie with the ECP alone.

Vote counting in Pakistan’s general election has been hit by unexpected delays. There had been no final result as of early Friday evening, more than 24 hours after polls closed.

As a result, the exercise was doomed to controversy well before it began. It already seems clear that it will not provide any closure for the country’s political crisis.

Crisis and instability will likely continue to plague the nation, with dissent kept in check through the use of fear tactics.

It is a shame that such a momentous opportunity has been so carelessly lost,” the newspaper commented.