PAKISTANI cricket star-turned politician Imran Khan has rallied around 100,000 supporters in the eastern city of Lahore ahead of general elections.
Khan is shaping up to be the biggest wildcard in the May 11 parliamentary election - the first transition between democratically elected governments in a country that has experienced three military coups.
Casting himself as an anti-corruption crusader, the 60-year-old is seen as a threat to the two long-dominant parties as evidenced by the huge crowds that turned out on Saturday to support him.
Khan polls as the country's most popular politician by a wide margin.
But it's uncertain how effective he will be in converting his personal appeal into votes for his party.
Much of Khan's support has come from young, middle class Pakistanis in the country's major cities, a potentially influential group.
Almost half of Pakistan's more than 80 million registered voters are under the age of 35, but the key question is whether Khan can get his young supporters to show up at the polling booth on election day.
"This is going to swing the election," Khan said in an interview before the rally.
"The youth is standing with us and change."
Khan, one of the few Pakistani politicians with a squeaky-clean image, broke into the political mainstream in the last 18 months with a message that capitalises on widespread discontent with the country's traditional politicians.
They are seen as more interested in lining their pockets than dealing with pressing problems facing Pakistan, such as stuttering economic growth, pervasive energy shortages and deadly attacks by Islamist militants.
On foreign policy, he has also struck a chord by criticising Pakistan's unpopular alliance with the United States and controversial drone attacks targeting militants in the country's tribal region that borders Afghanistan.
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