Polity Notes
ELECTIONS OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN
Pakistan was formed on 14th August 1947 by dividing India into two countries – India and Pakistan based on religion as demanded by the Muslim league. The division was made as per the Mountbatten Plan.
On 23rd March 1956 Pakistan became a republic country and the name of the country became Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan is the first Islamic Republic in the world. Pakistan celebrates its Republic Day as Pakistan Day (YAUM -e- PAKISTAN) on 23rd March every year.
Pakistan is a federal country and has parliamentary form of Government. The parliament of Pakistan is known as Majlis -e- Shoora. The parliament is Bi-cameral (i.e., has 2 houses). The Upper House is known as Senate (AIWAN -e- BALA) having 100 members. The Lower House is called The National Assembly (AIWAN -e- ZARIN or QOMI Assembly).
National Assembly has 336 members out of which 266 members are directly elected by the system of First-past-the-post (FPTP) where 60 seats are reserved for women and 10 for minority communities filled on the basis of proportional representation by single transferable vote system.
Most of the time, Pakistan was being governed either by the army or by the two families, i.e., Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif family. Presently Dr. Arif Alvi is the President and Mr. Anwar -ul- Haq Kakar is the caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The elections to elect new National Assembly of Pakistan were held on 8th February 2024 following two years of political crisis in the country after the Pakistan Tehreek -e- Insaf (PTI) government led by the Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted by a no confidence motion against his government in the year of 2022.
The results of the elections of National Assembly are as follows –
| Total No. of Seats elected through FPTP system | 266 |
| Elections held for a total no. of seats | 265 |
| Independent Candidates mostly supported by Pakistan Tehreek -e- Insaf (PTI) led by Imran Khan | 101 Seats |
| Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaj PML (N) led by Nawaz Sharif | 75 Seats |
| Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Bilawal Bhutto | 54 Seats |
| Others | 34 Seats |
| Total | 264 Seats |
| (Results withheld for 1 Seat) | |
Polls were held amidst the allegations of Pre- Poll rigging by the army in favour of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.
It is expected that Mr. Shehbaj Sharif, former Prime Minister and younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, will form the new government with the support of Pakistan’s Peoples Party and some independent candidates.