How will the elections take place?
There are more than 100 registered parties, 100 million voters and thousands of candidates in fray for national elections in Pakistan. So how will the general election work?
The Parliament of Pakistan consists of the President and two Houses known as the National Assembly (NA) and the Senate.
July 25 sees voting for the lower house, the National Assembly, on a first-past-the-post voting method. Polling will take place in 272 constituencies across the country from 8am until 5pm. There are 70 more seats reserved for women and minorities, making it a total of 342 seats, which means a party or an alliance needs to achieve 172 seats to form a government. The voting for four provincial assemblies will also take place at the same time. The seats in the National Assembly are allocated to each province
and the federal capital on the basis of population:
1. Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT): 3 constituencies 2. Punjab: 141 3. Sindh: 61 4. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 39 5. Balochistan: 16 6. Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata): 12
Here is a breakdown of the provincial assembly seats:
1. National Assembly General seats: 272 2. Punjab Assembly General seats: 297 3. Sindh Assembly General seats: 130 4. KPK Assembly General seats: 99 5. Balochistan Assembly General seats: 51
The electoral landscape: Voters and polling stations
In 2018, the number of registered voters in the country has reached 105.96 million voters, approximately 23 per cent higher than the figures for the 2013 elections. Of these, 59.22m are male and 46.73m are female, according to final electoral rolls. Punjab tops the list with the largest number of voters with a total of 60.67m followed by 22.39m voters in Sindh. The third largest province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is home to 15.32m registered voters while Balochistan has a total of 4.3m registered voters. In Fata 2.51m voters would be able to exercise their right of voting while 0.77m voters are from the federal capital.
A total of 86,436 polling stations will be set up, including 48,667 in Punjab and 18,647 in Sindh, 14,655 polling stations in Fata and KP and nearly 4,467 stations in Balochistan.
The number of voters from religious minorities rose to 3.63 million which shows an increase of 30 per cent in five years. Hindu voters are in majority among the minorities followed by Christians, Ahmadi, Sikh as well as Bahai and Parsi community. For the first time, 13 transgendered will contest.
Young voters key to Election 2018
Youth is expected to play a crucial role in the general elections as two-third of Pakistan’s 200 million population is under 30. Nearly 46 million young voters (between 18-35 years) who extensively use social media will take part. Analysts believe the huge number could greatly influence the electorate and also transform voting patterns if they turn out in large numbers on Election Day.