Eighty million voters will on Monday decide the political future of Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s unpopular US-backed president, in a general election that has become a referendum on his eight turbulent years in power.

The results, which are expected to start trickling in around 10pm local time (1900GMT), will determine a new balance of power in a country itching to rid itself of a leader held responsible for a long list of popular grievances, including surging food and electricity prices, growing lawlessness and fast-spreading militant extremism.