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ISLAMABAD – A suicide bomber knocked on the outside of a crowded polling station in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing 31 people while Pakistanis voted Wednesday for a general election ahead result in the third consecutive civilian government. Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, has also wounded 35 people and many of them are in critical condition, raising fears that the death toll will continue to rise, according to a medical doctor. Hospital, Jaffar Kakar
. Abdul Haleem said that he had seen a motorcycle enter the crowd of voters just seconds before the blast. Haleem's uncle was killed in the blast.
"There was a deafening crash followed by a thick cloud of smoke and dust and so much crying on the part of the wounded," he told the Associated Press. The Wednesday bombing
Baluchistan also experienced the worst violence during the election campaign earlier this month, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a rally. killing 149 people, including candidate Siraj Raisani. 400 others were injured.
WATCH BELOW: More than 130 dead in election violence in Pakistan
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, although Baluchistan has experienced ongoing attacks, both from from secessionists and Sunni militants who killed hundreds of Shiites living there. In recent years, the ISI affiliate in the region has emerged as a major force behind the violence, often using local Sunni radicals from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi to carry out its attacks.
Citing security concerns, the Pakistan Election Commission announced that Internet and mobile phone services in several districts of Baluchistan have been suspended. Election commission secretary Babar Yaqub said threats were being made against polling stations, staff and even candidates.
Activists threw grenades and fired on a military convoy escorting election officials in Turbat District. troops
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At the request of the electoral commission, the Pakistani army deployed 350,000 soldiers nationwide in polling stations
. Opposing political parties killed one person and injured two others in a village near the northwestern city of Swabi. Later, other clashes between rival political parties killed another person and injured 15 others across the country.
Early voting was heavy in some polling stations in Islamabad, the capital and in the provincial capital of Punjab.
Local television reported scattered cases of police arresting people with pre-marked ballots.
LOOK BELOW: Islamists put religion forward in polls in Pakistan
grudging election campaign and many allegations of manipulation jeopardize wobbly transition to democracy and raise the specter of bitter challenges of fraud after the elections.
Unprecedented participation in these elections of radical religious groups, including those banned from resurrected and renowned terrorism, also raised concerns – particularly for minorities and women – before the vote.
Ji Bran Nasir, an independent candidate from the Karachi Financial Center in Pakistan, said that he had received death threats and even a fatwa, or religious edict, after refusing to sentence the Ahmadis, tried by Muslims as heretics. in Islam happened more than a century ago. Pakistan declared non-Muslim Ahmadis in 1974. "I speak on behalf of millions of Pakistanis who are too afraid to confront religious fanaticism," said Nasir, adding that no arrest has occurred. been made of those who threatened him.
The main candidates for Wednesday's polls are former cricket star Imran Khan and his party in Tehreek-e-Insaf Pakistan, and the Muslim League of Pakistan, the party of disgraced Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in prison serving 10 years on charges of corruption. His younger brother Shahbaz Sharif took control of the feast
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Khan's supporters showered his vehicle with suburbs rose petals. Islamabad. After voting, he called on Pakistanis to go out and vote overwhelmingly "to save future generations".
The third party in the running is the Pakistan People's Left Party, led by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, murdered by the Pakistani Taliban, whom she had sworn to 39; eradicate.
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The electoral authorities claim that more than 11,000 candidates are running for 270 seats in Pakistan's Legislative Chamber and 577 seats in four bademblies provincial
stations opened at 8 am and continued for 10 hours, an hour longer than in the 2013 elections. The vote for two parliamentary seats and six seats in provincial bademblies was postponed due attacks on candidates or disqualifications. First results are expected early Thursday
There are more than 105 million eligible voters in Pakistan, 59 million men and 46 million women.
The Pakistani Electoral Commission reminds candidates that their elections will be canceled if women's participation does not reach 10 percent. This requirement was imposed after the 2013 elections, when several regions banned the vote of women, mainly in northwestern Pakistan, religiously conservative. Some candidates were elected without a single woman marking a ballot.
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The commission issued its reminder on Tuesday after Tahir Abdullah, a veterans rights activist, told local jirgas from 60 regions of the country, representing 16 different constituencies, had signed agreements forbidding women to vote despite the new decision. While some regions refused to give in, others allowed women to vote
. In northern Waziristan, in northern Pakistan, where Taliban insurgents took refuge, women voted for the first time on Wednesday, said Mohamad Ayaz Khan.
"We did the story today," Khan said.
"It's the first time women have come out of their homes to vote."
Even individual polling stations are divided between men and women, including separate election officials.
The results will be felt after the end of the poll, with a result expected early Thursday, according to election officials.
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International and domestic election observers will monitor the vote. The European Union Election Observation Mission has 120 observers in the polling stations of the main centers of Pakistan, with the exception of Baluchistan.
According to Pakistani law, separate seats are reserved for women and non-Muslim minorities, which account for 4% of the total. The Zarar Khan journalist in Islamabad, Abdul Sattar in Quetta in Baluchistan, Zaheer Babar in Lahore Adil Jawad in Karachi, Pakistan and Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan contributed to this report.
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