In an analytical report on the 2024 national elections, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFN) highlighted that the major parties – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ), and the Pakistan People’s Party. Parliamentarians (PPPP) – retained its overall vote bank.
The non-governmental election observer released its latest report titled “GE-2024 National and Provincial Elections: Vote Polls and Party Shares in Votes and Seats” on Sunday, which shows political parties’ shares in the popular vote and their respective seats. Analysis provided. National and Provincial Assemblies
It said major political parties largely maintained their overall and individual vote banks in the national and provincial assemblies in the February 8 nationwide elections.
During the 2024 elections, the three major parties together secured 68% of the votes for the National Assembly and 62% for the four provincial assemblies.
In comparison, the aforementioned parties won 69% and 61% of the votes respectively in the 2018 general elections, and 65% and 58% in the 2013 national elections.
The report states that the polling votes for the National Assembly constituencies are slightly higher than the polling votes for the Provincial Assemblies.
Part of the reason for the difference was the postponement of elections in one national (NA-8 Bajaur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and three provincial constituencies (PK-22 Bajaur-4 and PK-91 Kohat-2 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and PP 266 Rahim Yar Khan). I XII).
It also revealed that none of the leading parties secured an absolute majority in their respective strongholds, even as they formed governments after the general elections.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI won 45 percent of the votes in NA contests, with the remaining 55 percent going to other parties.
Jamiat Ulema Islam Pakistan (JUI-P) got 16 percent, Muslim League (N) – which is currently ruling the country – got 10 percent, Awami National Party (ANP) and independent candidates got 7 percent. And other parties accounted for 15% of the total votes.
Tough competition between PTI and PML-N
In Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Punjab, there was a tough fight between PTI and PML-N.
In ICT, Imran Khan’s established party won 33% of the votes, easily outpacing Nawaz Sharif’s established party of 31%, while independent candidates got 20%. Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) got 5 percent, PPPP 4 percent, and other parties a total of 7 percent.
In Punjab, the former ruling party – the PTI – led the NA with 35 percent of the votes, while the Muslim League (N) got 34 percent.
The religious political party – TLP – followed with 7%, PPPP with 6%, independent candidates with 14%, and other parties with 5%, the report said.
In Sindh, the PPP won 46 percent of the national vote, followed by the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) at 12 percent, while the PTI and independent candidates won 9 percent.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) won 8 percent of the vote, and other smaller parties combined for 16 percent.
Subsequently, Balochistan exhibited the most fragmented voting pattern, with regional parties and independent candidates garnering 35% and 16% of the national vote respectively. JUIP got 16 percent, Muslim League-N 14 percent, PPP 10 percent and PTI 7 percent.
Too many seat shares
It also highlighted that the three leading parties – PTI, PML-N, and PPPP – won a lot more seats than their vote shares.
Overall, the PTI won 34 percent of the national and provincial assembly seats with a combined vote share of 28 percent in all assemblies. The Muslim League (N) won 27 percent of the seats with 23 percent of the votes, while the PPP won 19 percent of the seats with only 14 percent of the votes.
In contrast, smaller parties struggled to convert votes into seats. For example, the TLP, which received 5% of the total votes, won only 0.1% of the seats, and the JUIP won 4% of the votes but only 3% of the seats.