The elections in Pakistan on Monday are so overwhelmed by anomalies that it is hard to see how they can lift the country out of the hole dug by the procession of leaders that have misgoverned it – most latterly Pervez Musharraf, the current president and former army chief of staff. Yet succeed they must, if Pakistan is to hold together and rebuild its shattered institutions.

The first anomaly is that the leading party, Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s party (PPP), is leaderless after her assassination in December. Shorn of the populist fervour and feudal command of the Bhuttos, it is genuinely unclear what will happen to the PPP, even if it does appear likely to garner a big sympathy vote.