Pakistanis are voting in their first elections since the country's military coup in a poll billed as a return to civilian rule.
A new party supporting military ruler Mr Pervez Musharraf against a political mainstream whose exiled leaders are barred from standing.
Opinion polls showed a pro-Musharraf faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, the PML(QA) running neck and neck with the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, one of Musharraf's fiercest critics.
Voting began slowly in the capital, Islamabad, with police and polling agents visible but little sign of voters in the first few minutes after polls opened today.
In the sprawling southern city of Karachi, early voters appeared to be split between several of the 83 different parties contesting the election.
Mr Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has been fiercely criticised by political opponents and independent observers, who say he is seeking to manipulate the poll in his favour to produce a compliant 342-seat national assembly.
The general has promised to hand over full executive powers to the prime minister, but he says he will maintain a supervisory role with the power to dismiss parliament.
