Last-minute preparations are underway for general elections in Pakistan - the first since a military coup in 1999.

President Pervez Musharraf says the poll is an attempt to build a ''genuine democracy.''

The president, who is scheduled to address the nation at 2030 local time (1530 GMT) on Wednesday, has promised it will restore parliament, reform institutions and build genuine democracy.

But critics say it is a sham intended to keep the military in power.

Close contest

A tight race is predicted between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of banned former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and a new pro-government party.

However, critics have condemned the polls, claiming General Musharraf has used constitutional changes and tough electoral restrictions to ensure military rule continues.

The 72 million eligible voters will choose from 7,054 candidates in electing a national assembly and four provincial assemblies.

Turnout has fallen over the past four elections

The bodies were suspended and later disbanded by General Musharraf after he seized power.

The general has declared himself president until 2007 so is not contesting the elections.

In addition to Mrs Bhutto's exclusion, her fellow ex-premier in exile, Nawaz Sharif, is barred from returning to Pakistan until 2010.

Scores of other candidates have been disqualified, and critics say the result will be a continuance of the military rule that has governed Pakistan for 27 of its 55 years as a nation.

At least three public opinion polls show the PPP and the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League - Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) neck-and-neck.

The expected hung parliament would spark a frantic bout of horse-trading and coalition-building.

Heavy security

Voter turnout will be crucial - numbers have declined in the past four elections, with only 35.9% voting in 1997.

The PML-Q is a breakaway from Mr Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with which the PPP has suggested it might form a post-poll alliance.

Two of three men caught allegedly planning bomb attacks

One event on Wednesday showed how tough the alliance-building would be.

A rebel PPP candidate shot himself in the hand in front of journalists in Peshawar in protest at his party's decision to ally with another party.

Almost 250,000 police and paramilitary troops will be deployed to guard the more than 60,000 polling stations.

On Tuesday, police arrested three men with alleged links to Indian intelligence who officers claimed were planning to bomb Rawalpindi and Islamabad during the elections.