The Election Commission of Pakistan has issued more provisional results for the National Assembly constituencies, bringing the number to 262. The data shows a tough contest between independent candidates and two major political parties, PMLN and PPP, for the National Assembly seats.
The latest tally by the ECP shows that independent candidates have won at least 101 seats while PMLN is trailing closely behind with 77 seats and PPP with 54 seats. The gap between the number of independent candidates and the seat won by two major political parties narrowed down on Sunday morning after more results poured in.
MQM-P has won at least 17 National Assembly seats mainly from Karachi but also other cities in Sindh. The party has claimed victory on 18 seats and its numbers finally grew as the vote count advanced.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussian-led PMLQ and Fazlur Rehman’s JUI won at least 3 seats each, according to the ECP.
Jahangir Tareen’s IPP and Balochistan National Party won 2 seats each. Moreover, Akhtar Mengal’s BNP, Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan, Balochistan Awami Party, Pashtoonkhwa National Awami Party Pakistan, National Party, and Pakistan Muslim League-Z won 1 seat each.
However, the Grand Democratic Alliance, Awami National Party, and Jamaat-e-Islami have failed to win a single seat in the national legislature so far, though results for over a dozen seats are still awaited.
The ECP processed results slowly on Thursday night and the first half of the day on Friday.
It announced the result for NA-130 after 9pm where Nawaz Sharif battled PTI-backed candidate Yasmin Rashid. Sharif bagged 179,310 votes against Rashid’s 104,485 votes.
Nawaz Sharif lost NA-15 Mansehra to a PTI-backed candidate.
Foes may turn friends to form govt as final tally still elusive
All eyes are on the outcome of the general elections 2024, with political parties, independent candidates as well as voters glued to their television screens as the much-awaited unofficial and unconfirmed results for the crucial nationwide polls have entered the phase of completion.
On February 8, a large number of people across the country exercised their right to vote to elect their representatives for national and provincial assemblies — on 855 constituencies — despite the suspension of mobile phone and internet services.
The 2024 elections surpassed the previous ones in 2018 in various aspects, including a record budget allocation of Rs48 billion, a substantial increase in the number of voters exceeding 50% of the total population, an unprecedented ratio of independent candidates, a total of nearly 18,000 candidates, and a substantial amount of paper required for printing 260 million ballots.
More than 1.4 million polling staff performed their duties at 90,675 polling stations — of which 16,766 were declared as extremely sensitive. To ensure voter turnout, February 8 was declared as a public holiday.
The polling kick-started at 8am, with delays in some areas and continued till 5pm throughout the country to mark the largest general elections in the history of Pakistan, which is the world's fifth largest democracy.
With cellular service suspended since dawn due to security risks, the country witnessed a largely peaceful polling process, however, a terror attack in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, martyred four policemen.
The election results were expected to be completed a few hours after midnight, but the unofficial results couldn't be released even 24 hours after the end of polling.
As the results trickled in, independent candidates dominated the polls, with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) claiming to be in a position to form a majority government in the Centre, but an inordinate delay in the complete compilation of the outcomes sparked controversy.
Amid all the chaos about the poll results, all eyes are on the PTI-affiliated as they await the party's decision about their future course of action.
