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In pictures: Pakistan’s turbulent campaign

Candidates criss-cross the country as Pakistan suffers from one of its worst bouts of pre-poll violence.

A young supporter of the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islami-Nazriati (JUI-N), a religious political party, sits in a campaign office in Quetta.
By Asad Hashim
Published On 9 May 2013
Campaigning may be muted in places like Quetta that have been hit by pre-poll violence, but evidence of the campaign is to be found everywhere.
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Workers of the Awami National Party (ANP) sit at a campaign office in Quetta, despite repeated threats and attacks against the party by the Taliban.
Shops such as this one in Quetta(***)s Liaquat Bazaar sell materials for every party - including the Sunni hardline group Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat, whose flag is shown on the cap to the near right.
Supporters of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat (ASWJ), a hardline Sunni party, hold a rally in Quetta, shouting slogans including "Infidels! Infidels! Shia [are] infidels!"
Talal Bugti, the son of slain Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti and leader of his faction of the Jamhoori Watan Party, holds a press conference in Quetta.
Election symbols play an important role in Pakistani electioneering - the tiger is the symbol of the PML-N, and there are plenty of stuffed toys at most PML-N rallies.
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This election has been getting unprecedented coverage, as Pakistan(***)s vibrant news media has gone into overdrive to cover every rally - major or minor.
The incumbent Pakistan People(***)s Party (PPP) has been holding a muted election campaign in the face of serious threats from the Taliban. Much of its campaigning is based on small events such as this one, in a suburb of Sialkot.
Imran Khan kickstarted the election season into high gear by keeping up a frenetic pace of campaigning - at one point addressing 78 rallies in the space of 16 days.
Imran Khan has been addressing rallies of thousands all over the country - though primarily across Punjab province and in parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
Crowds of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporters celebrate outside the Shaukat Khanum hospital as news filters out that Imran Khan, their leader, is not in serious danger, after having fallen four metres at a rally hours earlier.