巴基斯坦議會選舉投票站外爆炸致70多人死傷

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.巴基斯坦西南部的一個投票站外7月25日星期三發生爆炸，造成至少31人死亡，40人受傷。幾個小時之前，巴基斯坦數百萬選民剛開始舉行議會選舉的投票。

警方的一名高官對美國之音說，一個騎摩托車的自殺式炸彈手攻擊了奎達市一個投票站外的人羣。受害者包括選民、警察和政黨活動人士。

激進的伊斯蘭國宣稱對星期三的爆炸事件負責。奎達是西部俾路支省的首府，本月早些時候在那裏舉行的一次選舉集會上曾發生威力巨大的自殺式炸彈攻擊，造成151人死亡，包括一名省議會的候選人。伊斯蘭國也宣稱陰謀策劃了這次大屠殺。

這次選舉主要在兩個政黨之間展開，他們是前總理謝里夫領導的執政黨巴基斯坦穆斯林聯盟-謝里夫派，以及前板球明星伊姆蘭·汗領導的巴基斯坦正義運動黨。伊姆蘭·汗承諾要消除腐敗，創建一個“伊斯蘭福利國家”。

巴基斯坦穆斯林聯盟-謝里夫派指責軍方幫助伊姆蘭·汗和巴基斯坦正義運動黨贏得選舉。不過，汗和軍方對此予以否認。在巴基斯坦70年的歷史中，軍人統治這個以穆斯林爲主的2億多人口的國家近30多年。

在342個國民議會席位中，預計巴基斯坦穆斯林聯盟-謝里夫派，或巴基斯坦正義運動黨，都不可能贏得多數席位。因此，獲勝一方必須要同小黨派協商組建聯合政府。

選民將選舉國民議會（下院）中的272個席位，另外70個席位留給婦女和少數民族，並根據獲選席位的百分比分配給各個不同政黨。

星期三的選舉是巴基斯坦第三次政權和平過渡。