[🇵🇰] Pakistan General Elections -- 2024

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How do national elections in Pakistan work?​

Pakistan goes to the polls on Thursday in a widely watched national election that will lead to the formation of a new government to lead the crisis-ridden country for the next five years.

Here are some facts about how the electoral system works in Pakistan:

Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy and voting will take place for seats in the federal legislature, called the National Assembly, and four provincial legislatures.

• 128 million Pakistanis out of a population of 241m are eligible to vote — all those above 18.
• On election day, voters will cast their ballots for two legislators to represent their constituency — one federally and the other provincially.
• There are 5,121 candidates contesting for the federal legislature and 12,695 for the provinces.
• The National Assembly consists of 336 seats - 266 are decided through direct voting on polling day, while 70 reserved seats — 60 for women and 10 for non-Muslims — are allotted according to the strength of each party in the house.
• Victorious candidates become members of the National Assembly. Independent candidates have the option to join any party after the elections.
• Once constituted, the NA holds a parliamentary vote to select a leader of the house, who becomes the premier.
• A successful candidate must show a simple majority in the house — that is, the support of at least 169 members.
• Once a prime ministerial candidate wins the vote in the NA, they are sworn in as prime minister.
• The new prime minister picks cabinet ministers, who form the federal government.
• A similar process is followed at the provincial level to pick a chief minister and a provincial government.

 

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Election campaigning to end tonight​

Tuesday night marks the end of election campaigns nationwide, providing voters with the opportunity to thoroughly contemplate their choices before voting for their favored candidates in both the national and provincial assemblies, APP reports.

According to election regulations, campaigning will cease precisely at midnight on the night between February 6 and 7.

The ECP cautions that candidates engaging in political activities after the deadline will face legal consequences. Additionally, the ECP appeals to the media and the public to collaborate for a free, fair, and transparent election process.

 

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275 women to contest upcoming elections on general seats​

In the upcoming general elections, 275 women from various political parties will be contesting the general seats, Associated Press of Pakistan reports.

According to Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), 111 political parties have nominated 275 women candidates to contest the upcoming elections on general seats, making up for 4.6 per cent of the total of 6,037 candidates they have fielded.

Fafen’s analysis is based on the List of Contesting Candidates (Form-33) for National and Provincial Assemblies.

It states that out of 111 political parties, 30 parties have fielded five or more than 5pc women on general seats, while four political parties have fielded between 4.5pc and 4.9pc of women candidates on general seats (that is statistically rounded up to 5pc), and the remaining 77 have fielded up to 4.5pc women candidates on general seats.

 

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He himself is laughing.....​

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Youth crucial for making Pakistan ‘Asian Tiger’: Nawaz​

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif said that if his government had not been overthrown in 2017, all the citizens in the country would have been provided employment opportunities.

Speaking at a rally in Kasur, Nawaz expressed his vision for Pakistan to reclaim its status as an “Asian Tiger,” adding that the youth would help achieve this goal.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif addresses a rally in Kasur.

 

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ANP suspends basic membership of members over violations of party discipline​

The Awami National Party (ANP) has suspended the basic membership of several individuals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for violating the party discipline.

According to a statement, the affected members had supported candidates other than those officially endorsed by the party for the general elections.

The termination of their memberships was approved by Chairman of the Provincial Election Commission, Shakeel Bashir Khan Umarzai, in consultation with the ANP’s district officials.

 

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Voters with expired identity cards can cast votes, says ECP​

Voters with an expired national identity card can cast their votes in the upcoming general elections on February 8, APP reports.

Spokesman of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) KP, Sohail Ahmad told APP that all voters whose identity cards have expired are eligible for casting votes.

However, all voters must take their original identity card to the polling station, otherwise they will not be allowed to exercise their right of franchise, he said.

He said the ECP took this decision to allow the participation of hundreds of thousands of voters in elections.

A large number of people were approaching and asking about their eligibility due to the expiry of the identity cards, he added.

 

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Gallup survey shows record-high pessimism ahead of elections​

A Gallup survey shows that seven in 10 Pakistanis “lack confidence in the honesty of their elections”.

Moreover, an unprecedented 70 per cent said that they think the economic conditions in the country were getting worse.

The survey notes that a clear majority of Pakistanis (88pc) believed corruption within the government is widespread, on par with the figure from 2022 (86p), which was a record high for the country.

 

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