Vote for a better life
An elderly woman casts her vote at a polling station for parliamentary elections in Islamabad on Wednesday. According to the Election Commision of Pakista. 820.000 security personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order during the elections station in Quetta killed 31 people on Wednesday. B.K
LAHORE/PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A blast near a polling station killed 31 people as Pakistanis voted on Wednesday in a knife-edge general election.
“(The bomber) was trying to enter the polling station. When police tried to stop him he blew himself up,” said Hashim Ghilzai, a local administration official in Quetta. The incident and toll were confirmed by a second senior local official.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.
A witness who was waiting to cast his ballot, Abdul Haleem, said he saw a motorcycle drive into the crowd of voters just seconds before the explosion. Haleem’s uncle was killed in the blast. “There was a deafening bang followed by thick cloud of smoke and dust and so much crying from the wounded people,” he said.
Earlier this month, a suicide bomber killed 149 people at an election rally in the town of Mastung, also in Baluchistan province. That attack was also claimed by the IS group.
About 371,000 soldiers have been stationed at polling stations across the country to prevent attacks, nearly five times the number deployed at the last election in 2013.
Several dozen parties are taking part in the elections, but the contest will be mainly among the three major parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf and former president Asif Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party.
The latest opinion polls put Khan and Sharif’s parties in front, but neither is likely to win a clear majority, with the Peoples Party expected to be at number three.
About 106 million people are registered to vote in the election, with polling stations scheduled to close at 6 pm. Results will start trickling in within hours, and the likely winner should be known by around 2 am on Thursday.
Voters believe that the election will serve as a gamechanger for the country and the new government will work better than the previous ones as the people of the country are more aware about the “power of their vote” than before.
“The last five years were very challenging for Pakistan’s economy and the forthcoming years will be even more crucial, so we will select the party who will complete the projects initiated by the CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) and other programs,” said businessman Sabir Chaudhry while waiting for customers at his store in a busy market in Islamabad on the eve of the election.
Chaudhry, 30, who is voting for the first time, said he never took elections seriously before, but now he believes that he should play his part to elect a candidate who is sincere with the country and will work to bring a positive change.
We will select the party who will complete the projects initiated by the CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) and other programs.” Sabir Chaudhry, businessman