Pakistan voter turnout put at 44.9 percent

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- The Pakistan election commission Tuesday reported voter turnout for 147 of the 272 parliamentary seats contested was 44.91 percent.

The turnout for the remaining seats was yet to be announced, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported. In the 2002 national election total turnout was about 42 percent.

The report said of the 44.11 million voters eligible to vote in the 147 constituencies, the turnout was 19.8 million and of that 501,689 votes were rejected but no reason was given.

The report also said formation of the new federal and four provincial governments was expected to be completed by next month.