巴基斯坦西南部的一个投票站外7月25日星期三发生爆炸，造成至少31人死亡，40人受伤。几个小时之前，巴基斯坦数百万选民刚开始举行议会选举的投票。
警方的一名高官对美国之音说，一个骑摩托车的自杀式炸弹手攻击了奎达市一个投票站外的人群。受害者包括选民、警察和政党活动人士。
激进的伊斯兰国宣称对星期三的爆炸事件负责。奎达是西部俾路支省的首府，本月早些时候在那里举行的一次选举集会上曾发生威力巨大的自杀式炸弹攻击，造成151人死亡，包括一名省议会的候选人。伊斯兰国也宣称阴谋策划了这次大屠杀。
这次选举主要在两个政党之间展开，他们是前总理谢里夫领导的执政党巴基斯坦穆斯林联盟-谢里夫派，以及前板球明星伊姆兰·汗领导的巴基斯坦正义运动党。伊姆兰·汗承诺要消除腐败，创建一个“伊斯兰福利国家”。
巴基斯坦穆斯林联盟-谢里夫派指责军方帮助伊姆兰·汗和巴基斯坦正义运动党赢得选举。不过，汗和军方对此予以否认。在巴基斯坦70年的历史中，军人统治这个以穆斯林为主的2亿多人口的国家近30多年。
在342个国民议会席位中，预计巴基斯坦穆斯林联盟-谢里夫派，或巴基斯坦正义运动党，都不可能赢得多数席位。因此，获胜一方必须要同小党派协商组建联合政府。
选民将选举国民议会（下院）中的272个席位，另外70个席位留给妇女和少数民族，并根据获选席位的百分比分配给各个不同政党。
星期三的选举是巴基斯坦第三次政权和平过渡。
At least 31 people were killed and 40 wounded in an explosion outside a polling station in southwest Pakistan Wednesday, just hours after millions of voters began casting their ballots in parliamentary elections.
A senior police official told VOA that a suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a crowd outside a polling station in Quetta. The victims included voters, police personnel and political party activists.
The radical Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s blast. Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, where a powerful suicide bombing at an election rally earlier this month killed 151 people, including a provincial assembly candidate. The radical group Islamic State also took credit for plotting the carnage.
The election has narrowed to a contest between ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ((PML-N)) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ((PTI)), led by former cricket star Imran Khan, who has pledged to eliminate corruption and create a “Islamic welfare state.”
The PML-N has accused the military of helping Khan and the PTI to win the election, a charge Khan and the military have strongly denied. The military has ruled the Muslim-majority nation of more than 200 million people for nearly half of the country’s 70-year-history.
Neither the PML-N nor the PTI are expected to win a majority in the 342-seat National Assembly, lower house of parliament, meaning whoever wins will have to enter into negotiations with smaller parties to form a coalition government.
Voters elect 272 members to the parliament while the other 70 are reserved for women and minorities and are given to various political parties based on their percentage of winning seats.
Wednesday’s election is just Pakistan’s third peaceful transition of power.