Pakistan ballots are in
Bomber kills 31 people waiting to vote in nation’s 2nd civil-power switch
ISLAMABAD — After an election campaign overshadowed by violence and allegations of fraud, Pakistanis voted Wednesday for a new government that will face challenges of a crumbling economy and ongoing bloodshed by militants whose latest attack saw a suicide bomber kill 31 people outside a polling station.
The parliamentary balloting marked only the second time in Pakistan’s 71-year history that one civilian government has handed power to another in the country of 200 million people. There also have been widespread concerns during the election campaign about manipulation by the military, which has directly or indirectly ruled the country for most of its existence.
The leading contenders are Imran Khan, a former cricket star, and Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been jailed on corruption charges.
Early unofficial results give Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party a commanding lead over his main rival Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, and Khan’s party headquarters in Islamabad was crowded with dancing followers who sensed a victory.
Charging widespread fraud, Shahbaz Sharif rejected election results when barely 50 percent of the ballots had been counted, generating fears that disgruntled losers could delay the formation of the next government.
“We will sweep the elections,” said Abdul Basit, a supporter of Khan’s, who watched the results on a large TV screen.
Hours after the polls opened, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his explosives in a crowd waiting to vote in the southwestern city of Quetta. In addition to the 31 dead, the attack wounded 35 people, said Dr. Jaffar Kakar, a hospital official. No one immediately claimed responsibility, but local officials were quick to blame the Islamic State group.
The attack in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, underscored the difficulties the majority Muslim nation faces on its wobbly journey toward sustained democracy.
Baluchistan also saw the worst violence during campaigning earlier this month, when a suicide bomber struck at a political rally, killing 149 people, including the candidate Siraj Raisani. Another 400 were wounded. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack. Baluchistan has seen relentless attacks, both by the province’s secessionists and Sunni militants who have killed hundreds of Shiites there.
The military deployed 350,000 troops at polling stations across the country.
Khan has been an outspoken critic of the U.S.-led war in neighboring Afghanistan as well as China’s investment in Pakistan, which has racked up millions of dollars in debt to Beijing.
Khan’s supporters showered his vehicle with rose petals as he arrived to vote near his home in the capital of Islamabad. Afterward, he appealed to Pakistanis to vote in huge numbers “to save future generations.”
As early results gave Khan an edge, Maryam Aurangzeb of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League raised the first allegations of ballot fraud and warned that his supporters might revolt if the charges prove correct.
“We will not allow anyone to steal the mandate the nation has given to us,” she told a news conference. “So far, we are controlling our supporters, but we won’t be able to convince them to exercise restraint if the results were manipulated against our party.”
The third-largest party is the left-leaning Pakistan People’s Party, headed by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, assassinated by the Pakistani Taliban, whom she had vowed to eradicate.
More than 11,000 candidates are vying for 270 seats in Pakistan’s law-making National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, and 577 seats in four provincial assemblies. Under Pakistani law, separate seats are reserved for women and for non-Muslim minorities, which comprise 4 percent of the population.
The 85,307 polling stations were open for 10 hours, an hour longer than in 2013. Voting for two parliamentary seats and six seats in provincial assemblies has been postponed due to attacks on candidates or disqualifications. Final results are expected today.