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Pakistani general election, 2018

Pakistani general election, 2018
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All 342 seats in the National Assembly
172 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout 51.6%[1] (Decrease 3.4pp)

  First party Second party Third party
  Imran Khan 2012.jpg Mian Shehbaz Sharif.JPG Bilawal Bhutto Zardari - 2012 (7268800476) (cropped).jpg
Leader Imran Khan Shehbaz Sharif Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
Party PTI PML (N) PPP
Leader since 25 April 1996 6 March 2018 30 December 2007
Leader's seat Mianwali-I Lahore-X Larkana-I
Last election 35 seats, 16.92% 166 seats, 32.77% 42 seats, 15.23%
Seats won
Seat change Increase 114 Decrease 84 Increase 12
Popular vote 16,903,702 12,934,589 6,924,356
Percentage 31.82% 24.35% 13.03%
Swing Increase 14.90pp Decrease 8.42pp Decrease 2.29pp
2018 General Elections in Pakistan.svg
Prime Minister before election

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
PML (N)

Elected Prime Minister

Imran Khan
PTI

General elections were held in Pakistan on Wednesday 25 July, after the completion of a five-year term by the outgoing government. At the national level, elections were held in 270 constituencies, each electing one member to the National Assembly. At the provincial level, elections were held in each of the four provinces to elect Members of the Provincial Assemblies (MPA).

As a result of the elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) became the single largest party at the national level both in terms of popular vote and seats. At the provincial level, the PTI became the largest party in Punjab and remained the largest party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP); the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) remained the largest party in Sindh and the newly-formed Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) became the largest party in Balochistan.

Opinion polling had consistently shown leads for the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) over the PTI. From a 11-point lead, the PML-N's lead began to diminish in the final weeks of the campaign, with some polls close to the election showing PTI with a lead. In the final result, the PTI made a net gain with 31.82% of the vote (its highest share of the vote since its foundation), whilst the PML-N made a net loss with 24.35%. In the lead-up to the elections, there had been allegations by some international journalists and scholars about pre-poll rigging being conducted by the judiciary, the military and the intelligence agencies to sway the election results in favour of the PTI and against the PML-N.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Almost all parties, excluding Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, alleged large-scale vote rigging and administrative malpractices.[11][12][13]

However, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) outrightly rejected such reports and stated that elections were conducted fair and free.[14][15][16] A top electoral watchdog, Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), also said that the 2018 general elections in Pakistan have been “more transparent in some aspects” than the previous polls.[17] The European Union Election Observation Mission said, in its preliminary report, that no rigging has been found during the election day in general, however, "lack of equality of opportunity" in the pre-election campaign, and there were systematic attempts to undermine the ruling party PML-N. The European Union assessed the conduct of polling on election day as "transparent".[18][19]

Background[]

2013 elections[]

Further information: Pakistani general election, 2013 § Results

Following the elections in 2013, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), led by twice Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, emerged as the largest party with 166 seats out of a total of 342 in the National Assembly. Although this was short of a majority, Sharif was able to form a government after several independents joined his party.[20]

During the election campaign, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by prominent cricketer turned politician Imran Khan, was widely expected to have huge success in the polls. The party fell short of these expectations, instead only taking 35 seats. It became the 3rd largest party in the National Assembly and formed a coalition government in the restive north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[21]

Azadi March (2014)[]

Further information: Azadi March

PTI had initially conceded the elections to PML (N), although they asked for manual recounts to be carried out in several constituencies where rigging had been allegedly carried out.[22][23] These calls were not answered by the government or the Supreme Court, despite a 2,100 page white paper by the party which allegedly contained evidence of vote-rigging in favour of the PML (N).[24] An ‘Azadi March’ was started by Khan on 14 August 2014 which demanded the government to call a snap election. The sit-in in Islamabad continued for 126 days, until the 2014 Peshawar school massacre occurred, which forced Khan to end the protest for the sake of ‘national unity’.[25] A judicial commission was formed by the government which would probe the allegations of vote-rigging: it found the election to have been largely conducted in a free and fair manner, while also stating that PTI's request for a probe was not "entirely unjustified".[26]

Panama Papers case (2016)[]

Further information: Panama Papers case

On 3 April 2016 the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) made 11.5 million secret documents, later known as the Panama Papers, available to the public.[27] The documents, sourced from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, among other revelations about other public figures in many other countries, included details of eight offshore companies with links to the family of Nawaz Sharif, the then-incumbent Prime Minister of Pakistan, and his brother Shehbaz Sharif, the incumbent Chief Minister of Punjab.[28] According to the ICIJ, Sharif's children Maryam Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz “were owners or had the right to authorise transactions for several companies”.[29]

Sharif refused to resign and instead make an unsuccessful attempt to form a judicial commission. The opposition leader Khan filed a petition to the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 29 August seeking the disqualification of Sharif from the premiership and as a member of the National Assembly. Political leaders Sheikh Rasheed and Siraj-ul-Haq also supported this petition. Khan called, once again, for his supporters to put Islamabad in lockdown until Sharif resigned, although this was called off soon before it was meant to take place.[30]

On 20 April 2017, on a 3-2 verdict, the Supreme Court decided against the disqualification of Sharif, instead calling for a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to be created which would probe these allegations further.[31]

On 10 July 2017, JIT submitted a 275-page report in the apex court.[32][33] The report requested NAB to file a reference against Sharif, his daughter Maryam, and his sons under section 9 of National Accountability Ordinance. Additionally, the report claimed that his daughter Maryam was guilty of falsifying documents, as she submitted a document from 2006 which used the Calibri font despite the font itself not being available for public use until 2007.[34]

Disqualification of Nawaz Sharif (2017)[]

On 28 July 2017, following the submittal of the JIT report, the Supreme Court unanimously decided that Sharif was dishonest, therefore not fulfilling the requirements of articles 62 and 63 of the constitution which require one who holds public office to be Sadiq and Ameen (Urdu for Truthful and Virtuous). Hence, he was disqualified as Prime Minister and as a Member of the National Assembly.[35][36] The court also ordered National Accountability Bureau to file a reference against Sharif, his family and his former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on corruption charges.[37]

Electoral system[]

The 342 members of the National Assembly are elected by two methods in three categories; 272 are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting;[38] 60 are reserved for females and 10 for religious minority groups; both sets of reserved seats use proportional representation with a 5% electoral threshold.[39] This proportional number, however, is based on the number of seats won rather than votes cast.[40] To win a simple majority, a party would have to take 137 seats.[41]

The 2018 General Elections were held under new delimitation of constituencies as a result of 2017 Census of Pakistan.[42] Parliament of Pakistan amended the Constitution, allowing a one-time exemption for redrawing constituency boundaries using 2017 provisional census results.[43] As per the notification issued on 5 March 2018, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) now has three constituencies, Punjab 141, Sindh 61, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 39, Balochistan 16 and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has 12 constituencies in the National Assembly.[44][45][46] 106 million people were registered to vote for members of the National Assembly of Pakistan and four Provincial Assemblies.[47]

Likewise for elections to provincial assemblies, Punjab has 297 constituencies, Sindh 130, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 99 and Balochistan 51.

Electoral reforms[]

In June 2017 the Economic Coordination Committee approved the procurement of new printing machines with a bridge loan of 864 million rupees.[48] The government has also developed new software for the Election Commission of Pakistan and NADRA to ensure a "free, fair, impartial, transparent and peaceful general election."[49] The former Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid elaborated that youth reaching the age of 18 will automatically be registered as voters when they apply for a CNIC from NADRA.[49]

Contesting parties[]

Party Political Position Leader Seats won previously (FPTP)
Pakistan Muslim League (N) Centre-right Shehbaz Sharif 126
Pakistan Peoples Party Centre-left Bilawal Bhutto Zardari 33
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Centre to Centre-right Imran Khan 28
Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Left wing Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui 19
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Far right Fazl-ur-Rehman 14
Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Left wing Mahmood Khan Achakzai 3
Awami National Party Left wing Asfandyar Wali Khan 2
Pak Sarzameen Party Left wing Syed Mustafa Kamal 0
Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan Far right Khadim Hussain Rizvi 0
Balochistan Awami Party Centre Jam Kamal Khan 0
Grand Democratic Alliance Big tent Pir Pagaro 0
Balochistan National Party (Mengal) Left wing Akhtar Mengal 0

Campaign[]

Major by-elections (2017–2018)[]

Following the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif, several by-elections were held throughout Pakistan.

Lahore by-election, September 2017[]

The first of these was the by-election in Sharif’s former constituency, NA-120 Lahore, which is located in the capital city of the Punjab province, a province where the PML (N) was the ruling party. It retained this seat, albeit with a much reduced majority due to gains by the PTI and minor Islamist parties.[50]

Peshawar by-election, October 2017[]

The second of these was a by election in Peshawar, capital city of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf| was the ruling party. NA-4 once again voted for PTI, despite a reduced majority: once again mainly due to the rise of Islamist parties. These by-elections largely were largely seen as indicators that the ruling parties in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab were still electorally strong.[51]

Lodhran by-election, 2018[]

On 15 December 2017, Jahangir Khan Tareen, General Secretary of the PTI, was disqualified from holding public office. Hence, his NA-154 Lodhran seat was vacated.[52]

In a previous by-election in this constituency in 2015, Tareen won this seat with a majority in excess of 35,000 votes. Therefore, this seat was seen as a stronghold for the PTI.

In what was seen as an upset result, Iqbal Shah of the PML (N) won this by-election with a majority over 25,000 votes against Jahangir Tareen’s son, Ali Tareen. Many saw this as a failure on the PTI’s behalf, and the result led to a drop in morale for PTI workers.[53]

Pakistan Muslim League – N[]

Pakistan Muslim League – N launched its election campaign on 25 June 2018 from Karachi.[54] On 5 July 2018, PMLN unvieled its election manifesto.[55]

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf[]

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf started its election campaign on 24 June 2018 from Mianwali.[56] On 9 July 2018, Imran Khan launched PTI's election manifesto.[57] On 23 July 2018, PTI concluded its electioneering with rallies in Lahore.[58]

Pakistan Peoples Party[]

On 28 June 2018, PPP became the first political party to unviel its election manifesto.[59] PPP kicked off its election campaign on 30 June 2018, as Bilawal inaugurated their election office in Lyari, Karachi.[60]

Campaigning[]

The National Assembly and provincial assemblies of Pakistan dissolved as early as 28 May for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, and as late as 31 May for Punjab, Balochistan, and the National Assembly.[61]

The assemblies dissolved during the holy month of Ramadan, a month where Muslims worldwide refrain from eating or drinking from sunrise to sundown. Hence, most major parties did not start campaigning until late June.[62]

Nomination papers[]

On 4 June, parties and individuals started filing nomination papers for the elections. This process continued until 8 June.[63] After this, the returning officer in each constituency began scrutiny of the nominated candidates and decided whether or not to accept the nomination papers.

The scrutiny resulted in many high-profile politicians having their nomination papers rejected: Imran Khan (chairman of PTI), Farooq Sattar (chairman of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) (MQM-P) and Pervez Musharraf (chairman of All Pakistan Muslim League and former President), had their nomination papers rejected. Both Sattar and Khan had their nomination papers later accepted.[64][65][66]

Additionally, politicians Fawad Chaudhry (Information Secretary of PTI) and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (former Prime Minister) were disqualified from contesting these elections by election tribunals due to the non declaration of assets in their nomination papers. This was controversial because election tribunals were seen as not having the jurisdiction to disqualify candidates, rather only to accept or reject their nomination papers. The Lahore High Court eventually overturned these judgements and allowed the respective candidates to contest their elections.[67][68] Two major politicians of Tehreek-e-Insaf from Chakwal, Sardar Ghulam Abbas and Sardar Aftab Akbar Khan were disqualified to contest elections producing major problem in Chakwal district for the party.[69]

Opinion polls[]

Main article: Opinion polling for the Pakistani general election, 2018
Each coloured line specifies a political party and how strong their voting intention is nationwide for the National Assembly, based on a 3-point moving average. Parties which poll below 10% are not shown.
  Pakistan Muslim League (N)
  Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
  Pakistan Peoples Party
Date Pollster Publisher Sample PML-N PTI PPP MQM-P MMA* ANP Others Lead
25 July 2018 Election 2018 ECP 53,123,733 24.35% 31.82% 13.01% 1.38% 4.81% 1.53% 22.98% 7.47%
12 July 2018 SDPI[70] Herald 6,004 25% 29% 20% N/A 3% 1% 20% 4%
4 July 2018 IPOR[71] GSP 3,735 32% 29% 13% 2% 3% 1% 20% 3%
6 June 2018 Gallup Pakistan[72] Geo/Jang 3,000 26% 25% 16% N/A 2% 1% 30% 1%
28 May 2018 Pulse Consultant[72] 3,163 27% 30% 17% 1% 4% 1% 20% 3%
May 2018 Gallup Pakistan[73] Self 3,000 38% 25% 15% 22% 13%
Mar 2018 Gallup Pakistan[74] WSJ 2,000 36% 24% 17% 23% 12%
1 November 2017 Gallup Pakistan[75] Geo/Jang 3,000 34% 26% 15% 2% 2% 2% 19% 8%
25 October 2017 Pulse Consultant[75] 3,243 36% 23% 15% 2% 1% 1% 22% 13%
24 October 2017 IPOR[76][77] GSP 4,540 38% 27% 17% 3% 1% 1% 14% 11%
11 May 2013 Election 2013[78] ECP 45,388,404 32.77% 16.92% 15.23% 5.41% 3.22% 1.00% 25.57% 15.85%

*Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal is an alliance of Islamist political parties, formed in 2002 and dissolved after the 2008 elections. The restoration of this alliance occurred in December 2017. Polls conducted before the restoration show the sum for Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), the major political party in this alliance.

Analysis[]

A pre-poll "swing" analysis showed that out of a total 272 constituencies, 30% were ’big wins’. Out of these, 56% belonged to Pakistan Muslim League (N), 18% to Pakistan Peoples Party, 16% to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and 9% to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

The same was also reflected in Election Hattrick's analysis, in which there were 22% Hattrick seats out of which 47% belonged to PML-N, 24% to PPP and 15% to MQM. As the PTI didn’t contest the 2008 elections, it was excluded from this list of seats.

The role of electable candidates was only a major factor in 4% of constituencies (20% of Hattricks constituencies). Swing constituencies (about 70%) greatly rely on opinion polls, the latest of which show the PML-N and PTI being in a close contest.[79][80]

Conduct[]

There were 272 national and 577 provincial assembly constituencies,[81] contested by over 3,600 and 8,800 candidates respectively.[82] A total of 811,491 staff were deployed for election duties as presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, and polling officers, in addition to 371,000 armed forces personnel who provided security duties alongside police and other law enforcement agencies. There were 85,317 polling stations set up, comprising over 242,000 polling booths.[81]

Pre-election violence[]

Election day violence[]

Main article: Pakistani general election, 2018 violence

Allegations of election meddling[]

Pre-poll[]

There have been allegations by some international journalists and scholars, claiming that there was a plan between judiciary and military bodies to influence the outcome of the election.[10] These allegations were also made by the outgoing PML-N following Nawaz Sharif's disqualification for corruption.[97] It was suggested that alleged goal of these attempts was to halt the party of Nawaz Sharif from coming into power and to bring the results in favor of PTI, so that Imran Khan – who is alleged as close to the military – can be installed as the prime minister.[98][2][3][10] Khan has denied these allegations as a "foreign conspiracy" and "against the facts" , while the military also categorically rejected them.[99] There have been claims of PML (N)'s campaign material being ripped apart by authorities while leaving alone material belonging to PTI.[100] There have been suggestions that candidates belonging to PML (N) have been coerced by ISI to switch to those parties whose future government can be better controlled by military.[101][102] On the last day of scrutiny of nomination papers, seven PML (N) candidates from Southern Punjab returned their tickets leaving no option for PML (N) to field replacement candidates, depriving them an opportunity to win those seats.[103] There have also been reports of election engineering by army and intelligence agencies in Balochistan province in favor of Balochistan Awami Party.[104]

Reports further suggested that there was evidence of collusion between the judiciary and military, in that two military officials were appointed to the Joint Investigation Team to investigate corruption allegations against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, which were further strengthened by the circumstances of the Avenfield case verdict against the Sharifs.[98][2][3][10] Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, an Islamabad High Court senior justice, released a statement on 22 July alleging that judges were pressured by ISI not to release Sharif before the election.[105][106] However, he provided no evidence[107] and was at the time facing corruption and misconduct charges pending at the Supreme Judicial Council, leading to rumours about the timing of his statement.[108] Pakistan's Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said he felt "saddened" at Siddiqui's comments, and whilst criticising them, stated that "as the head of judiciary, I assure you that we are not under any sort of pressure".[108] There have been allegations that the micromanagement of political parties and the censorship of the newspapers, social media and TV channels is to further influence the election result.[7][5][109] An official from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan stated that "The level of army interference and political engineering is unprecedented."[101] Another institution, the National Accountability Bureau has been described as being used by military intelligence agencies, including ISI, to bring politicians in line by threatening to bring corruption cases against them.[8][9] Due to interference by military and intelligence agencies, The Financial Times described these elections as "the dirtiest in years".[110]

Furthermore, the EU observer mission released their report after the election stating that there were "systematic attempts to undermine the ruling party", "lack of equality of opportunity", pressure on the media, far stronger efforts than usual to encourage switching parties and judicial conduct had all negatively influenced the vote.[18]

Some of these allegations have also been made by certain political parties and figures more prominently by PML (N).[97] Among the politicians, Farhatullah Babar has been very vocal against the election meddling by military describing it as a "creeping coup against civilian authority".[111] Raza Rabbani also leveled same allegations including the Election Commission of Pakistan, National Accountability Bureau and security agencies as the culprit behind pre-poll rigging.[112]

Election day[]

Almost all political parties, with the exception of PTI, have alleged large scale election day rigging.[113][114][115] The winning PTI have alleged rigging in some constituencies as well.[116] Doubts were raised by unprecedented delays in the declaration of results.[117] The fairness of the election was also criticized due to the Election Commission's failure to provide Form 45s, official forms which include the tally of votes and are prepared in the presence of political agents of all the candidates.[118] Party leaders alleged that their representatives were barred from polling stations before counting began and the Form 45s were prepared in their absence and behind closed doors.[118] In some instances, the representatives were given results on plain paper instead of official forms.[118] In another instance, the presiding officer signed blank forms, allowing the possibility of results being manipulated afterwards.[118] Independent candidate Jibran Nasir also made similar allegations.[119] There was also an incident of seven people being arrested for alleged vote rigging in Karachi.[120] According to FAFEN observer Sarwar Bari, "Only one polling agent of every party is allowed when Form 45 is given out by the polling staff, so we can’t rule out the fact that it could be a misunderstanding."[81] A few days after the election, in the NA-241 (Korangi Karachi-III) constituency, ballots cast for candidates of PML (N), PPP, and MQM-P were found in a garbage heap. A PTI candidate won the election in that constituency.[121]

Chairman of winning party Imran Khan pledged that he will allow to open any constituency his opponents think are rigged, he said that opposition has full right into recounting or accountability over election process to ensure transparency.[122]

The Free and Fair Election Network, an election watchdog, said the 2018 polls were "more transparent" in some aspects than the previous elections and that "significant improvements in the quality of critical electoral processes" inspired "greater public confidence".[81] According to former Indian Chief Election Commissioner S. Y. Quraishi, a member of the international observers group in Pakistan, the election system was transparent, free and fair, and the minor technical glitches which showed up later in the day were due to inexperience.[123]

On 12 August 2018, it was reported that 90% of Form-45s were not signed by any polling agent, which is a violation of Election Act 2017.[124] However, an ECP spokesperson clarified the discrepancy by stating that there was no designated space on the Form-45s to obtain the signatures of polling agents. The signatures were instead done on tamper-evident bags that were used to transport the results.[125] For the transparency reasons and to combat controversy surrounding form 45, election commission of Pakistan published all form 45 publicly on their website.[126]

Results[]

National Assembly[]

Pakistan National Assembly 2018 with reserved.svg
Party Votes % Seats
General Reserved[127] Total +/–
Women Minorities
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 16,903,702 31.82 116 28 5 149 +114
Pakistan Muslim League (N) 12,934,589 24.35 64 16 2 82 –84
Pakistan Peoples Party 6,924,356 13.03 43 9 2 54 +12
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal 2,573,939 4.85 12 2 1 15 –4
Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan 2,234,316 4.21 0 0 0 0 New
Grand Democratic Alliance 1,260,147 2.37 2 1 0 3 –4
Awami National Party 815,998 1.54 1 0 0 1 –2
Muttahida Qaumi Movement 733,245 1.38 6 1 0 7 –17
Pakistan Muslim League (Q) 517,408 0.97 4 1 0 5 +3
Balochistan Awami Party 319,348 0.60 4 1 0 5 New
Balochistan National Party (Mengal) 238,817 0.45 3 1 0 4 +3
Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek 172,120 0.32 0 0 0 0
Sindh United Party 140,303 0.26 0 0 0 0
Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party 134,846 0.25 0 0 0 0 –4
Pak Sarzameen Party 126,128 0.24 0 0 0 0
Awami Muslim League 119,362 0.22 1 0 0 1 0
Pakistan Awami Raj 115,226 0.22 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Muslim League (F) 72,553 0.14 0 0 0 0
Qaumi Watan Party 57,249 0.11 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party 55,859 0.11 0 0 0 0
Balochistan National Party (Awami) 55,206 0.10 0 0 0 0
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Islam 55,155 0.10 0 0 0 0
All Pakistan Muslim League 36,566 0.07 0 0 0 0
Pakistan National Muslim League 35,415 0.07 0 0 0 0
Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Nazryati 34,247 0.06 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Human Party 34,246 0.06 0 0 0 0
National Party 33,432 0.06 0 0 0 0
Mutahidda Qabail Party 28,469 0.05 0 0 0 0
Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Pakistan (S) 24,582 0.05 0 0 0 0
Jamhoori Wattan Party 23,274 0.04 1 0 0 1 +1
Jamiat Ulama-e-Pakistan  (Noorani) 22,145 0.04 0 0 0 0
Mohajir Qaumi Movement Pakistan 21,521 0.04 0 0 0 0
Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen 19,615 0.04 0 0 0 0
Awami Workers Party 17,935 0.03 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party 12,637 0.02 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (Ch. Anwar) 12,255 0.02 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Peoples Party (Shaheed Bhutto) 10,032 0.02 0 0 0 0
Hazara Democratic Party 7,942 0.01 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Nazriati 6,755 0.01 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Muslim Alliance 6,703 0.01 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Siraiki Party (T) 6,523 0.01 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Sunni Tehreek 5,943 0.01 0 0 0 0
Sunni Ittehad Council 5,939 0.01 0 0 0 0
Tehreek Jawanan Pakistan 5,841 0.01 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Awami Inqelabi League 5,046 0.01 0 0 0 0
Roshan Pakistan League 4,267 0.01 0 0 0 0
Tehreek Tabdili Nizam Pakistan 4,161 0.01 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Gulalai 4,146 0.01 0 0 0 0
Balochistan National Movement 3,971 0.01 0 0 0 0
Tabdeeli Pasand Party Pakistan 3,698 0.01 0 0 0 0
Amun Taraqqi Party 3,646 0.01 0 0 0 0
Jamote Qaumi Movement 3,269 0.01 0 0 0 0
Barabri Party Pakistan 2,702 0.01 0 0 0 0
Move On Pakistan 2,580 0.00 0 0 0 0
All Pakistan Muslim League (Jinnah) 2,418 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Falah Party 2,167 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pasban Pakistan 2,154 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Awami League 1,780 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Aman Tehreek 1,718 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Peoples Party 1,587 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Quami Yakjehti Party 1,571 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Muslim League (Z) 1,406 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Muslim League (Sher-e-Bangal) 1,332 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Freedom Movement 1,096 0.00 0 0 0 0
Mustaqbil Pakistan 1,053 0.00 0 0 0 0
Humdardan-e-Watan Pakistan 936 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Aman Party 852 0.00 0 0 0 0
Aam Admi Tehreek Pakistan 828 0.00 0 0 0 0
Awami Justice Party Pakistan 730 0.00 0 0 0 0
Saraiskistan Democratic Party 724 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Supreme Democratic 708 0.00 0 0 0 0
Aam Log Party Pakistan 606 0.00 0 0 0 0
Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara Pakistan 545 0.00 0 0 0 0
Awam League 493 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Welfare Party 426 0.00 0 0 0 0
Aam Awam Party 364 0.00 0 0 0 0
Jannat Pakistan Party 248 0.00 0 0 0 0
National Peace Council Party 242 0.00 0 0 0 0
Front National (Pakistan) 233 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Muslim League Organization 211 0.00 0 0 0 0
All Pakistan Tehreek 155 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Human Rights Party 139 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaniat 98 0.00 0 0 0 0
Pakistan Muslim League Council 91 0.00 0 0 0 0
Peoples Movement of Pakistan (PMP) 37 0.00 0 0 0 0
Independents 6,087,410 11.46 13 0 0 13 +5
Postponed – – 2 – – 2 –
Invalid/blank votes — – – – – –
Total 53,123,733 100 272 60 10 342 0
Registered voters/turnout 51.6 – – – – –
Source: ECP

Government formation[]

Despite rejecting the results of the election due to alleged rigging, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) made the decision to take oath in the elected assemblies for the sake of democracy, conceding that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Imran Khan was likely to be the Prime Minister. Hence, the government formation at the federal level was left to the PTI alone.[128]

Talks began with smaller parties and independents to form a government. Muttahida Qaumi Movement which won six seats, Pakistan Muslim League (Q) which won four, Balochistan Awami Party which won four, Grand Democratic Alliance which won two, and thirteen independent candidates were invited to join the PTI-led government. Additionally, Awami Muslim League led by Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, the party’s only MNA, had already vowed its support to PTI before the elections.[129]

On 28 July, PML (Q) pledged its support to PTI’s candidates for Chief Minister of Punjab, making it unlikely to oppose PTI in the National Assembly.[130] On 31 July, Balochistan Awami Party announced its support for a PTI led federal government.[131]

On 1 August, Muttahida Qaumi Movement was told by the PPP that it had to choose between sitting in a coalition with them in Sindh or sitting in a coalition with PTI in the centre. On the same day, MQM-P convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui announced the party’s six MNAs would lend their support to the PTI in the National Assembly.[132]

On 2 August, Pakistan Muslim League (N), Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and Awami National Party announced to form a “Grand Opposition Alliance” whereby the Speaker, Prime Minister and other key posts would be jointly nominated and elected. However, on 16 August, PPP decided to withdraw their support for Shehbaz Sharif, owing to previous statements made by the individual about the party’s co-chairman and ex-President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari.[133][134]

Over the next few weeks, other parties pledged their support towards the PTI nominees for speaker, deputy speaker. These parties include Balochistan National Party (Mengal), Grand Democratic Alliance and Jamhoori Watan Party. In addition to this, 9 independents joined the party.[135][136][137]

Election for Speakers of the National Assembly[]

Candidate Supporting parties Contesting for Votes Obtained
Required majority → 172 out of 342
Asad Qaiser[138] PTI
MQM-P
PML (Q)
BAP
BNP-M
GDA
AML
JWP 		Speaker 176 ☑Y
Qasim Suri Deputy Speaker 183 ☑Y
Khurshid Shah PML-N
PPP
MMA
ANP 		Speaker 146 ☒N
Asad Mehmood Deputy Speaker 144 ☒N

Election for Prime Minister[]

Candidate Supporting parties Votes Obtained
Required majority → 172 out of 342
Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi[139] PTI
MQM-P
PML (Q)
BAP
BNP-M
GDA
AML
JWP 		176 ☑Y
Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif PML-N
MMA
ANP 		96 ☒N
Abstentions 53

Reactions[]

Domestic[]

As the results began to pour in, many of the main opposition parties declared that the elections were not 'free and fair'.[140]

The Election Commission of Pakistan denied the allegations but announced that it would be willing to investigate if proof was provided.[141]

PTI chairman Imran Khan also addressed the allegations in his first national address and said that he would be willing to look into any allegations of rigging.[142] He also added that he thought that the elections were the "cleanest in Pakistan's history."[143]

Celebrations across Pakistan also erupted as early results indicated a win for Tehreek-e-Insaf.[144] Khan's fellow cricketers and celebrities took to Twitter in celebration of his assumed victory even before election results were finalized or a government formed.[145]

Economic[]

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) reacted positively and opened 2% higher as the prospect of a hung government dissipated. The KSE index closed 749 points higher on Thursday.[146] On 3 July 2018, the benchmark KSE-100 index gained 314 points to reach 43,100 points. It closed up 770 points at 43,556 points. The US dollar shed Rs5.36 against the rupee in the inter-bank market for the first time in four years, falling to Rs122.5. The positive economic indicators are considered to be largely driven by what investors consider the return of political stability following the 25 July polls.[147]

International[]

Supranational bodies
States

See also[]

References[]

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