Turnout remains 55.14pc in 2013 polls

[UmarJustice]

The PML-N has bagged the highest number of nearly 15 million votes followed by the PTI’s over 7.6 million and PPP-P’s around 6.9 million votes, as more than 46 million Pakistanis exercised their right to vote in the recently held general elections to make second highest voters’ turnout of 55 per cent in Pakistan’s general election history.

The PML-N has gained nearly nine hundred thousand more votes compared to the previous 2008 polls while the PPP-P has lost nearly four million votes in comparison with the 2008 elections. The MQM has also seen reduction in its vote bank by over a hundred thousand votes compared to the previous general polls.
The National Assembly’s turnout for the general elections 2013 has been recorded at 55.02 per cent along with the provincial assemblies turnout of 55.26 per cent to make an average turnout of 55.14 per cent for all the five assemblies.
According to the votes’ statistics released by the electoral body on Tuesday, Pakistanis exceeding 46,200,000 in number cast votes out of the total 86,189,802 registered voters including over 48 million male and 37 million female voters.
Of the total votes polled, more than 14,865,000 went to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, 7,679,000 to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, 68,65,000 to Pakistan People’s Party-Parliamentarians, over 58,200,00 votes to the independent candidates, 24,58,000 to Muttahida Quami Movement and the remaining 2.7 million votes polled to the other parties.
In 2008 general elections, the PPP-P was the highest vote-winner with 10,666,542 votes followed by the PML-Quaid-e-Azam’s 8,006,043 votes and PML-N’s 6,785,013 votes. The MQM had got 2,573,818 and independents 3,778,864 votes of the total 34,549,270 votes polled.
The vote count for 2002 general elections shows that out of the total 29,236,687 votes polled, the PPP-P got 7,616,033 votes, PML-Q 7,500,797 votes, PML-N 3,409,805 votes, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal 3,335,643 votes and independents grabbed 2,722,669 votes.
The voters’ turnout was recorded highest during the inception of the general elections in Pakistan in the year 1970 with NA voters turnout recorded at 59.8 per cent while the average turnout of all the assemblies was estimated at 56.75 per cent then. The average voters’ turnout in the general elections 2002 was 38.2 per cent and that of 40.52 per cent in the 2008 polls.
In the coming days, the votes’ statistics break-up is to show variation following subsequent changes with the inclusion of the votes’ results from certain constituencies where the re-polling has been conducted recently and re-polling and recounting are to be held in the coming days. The re-polling at two and four polling stations of NA constituencies, NA-269 Khuzdar and NA-41, Tribal Areas-VI South Waziristan, respectively, as well as four and three polling stations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly constituencies, PK-71, Bannu-11, and PK-72, Bannu-111, respectively were held yesterday (Tuesday).


Turnout remains 55.14pc in 2013 polls

 

[UmarJustice]

PTI won more popular votes than PPP

Around 112 parties contested the 2013 elections. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), however, emerged as the largest party – both in terms of the number of seats it won in the National Assembly, and the votes it bagged.

The PML-N fielded 220 candidates for 270 seats in the lower house of parliament. The party won 125 seats and secured 14,794,188 votes, according to the data gathered by the Free and Fair Elections Network (FAFEN).
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerged as the second biggest party, securing 7,563,504 votes. Imran Khan fielded 232 candidates. The party, however, only won 27 seats in the National Assembly.

With 31 seats in the National Assembly, the former ruling party – the Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians (PPPP) – clinched the third position. It received 6,822,958 votes.
The May 11 election was allegedly tainted by a series of anomalies. Independent candidates emerged as the fourth strongest parliamentary force, bagging a total of 5,773,494 votes, and winning 32 seats in the lower house.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) fielded 205 candidates for the National Assembly, but secured 18 seats from Karachi and Hyderabad for the lower house with 2,422,656 votes.
Maulan Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam-Fazl fielded 131 candidates and won 10 seats. The party secured 1,454,907 votes countrywide.
The performance of the once ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid was very unimpressive. In all, the party fielded 53 candidates but won only two National Assembly seats with 1,405,493 votes. The Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, which is limited to Sindh, fielded 28 candidates and won five seats, securing 1,007,761 votes.
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) fielded 166 candidates but won a dismal three seats from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa only. The JI, allegedly known for its pro-establishment approach for arranging ‘dharnas’ against elected governments in the past, fetched 949,394 votes in the current elections.
Out of the 58 candidates fielded by the Awami National Party (ANP), the former ruling party in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, only one emerged victorious. The ANP managed to get only 450,561 votes. The party says attacks and threats from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was one of the main reasons why it could not carry out its election campaigns effectively.
The Muttahida Deeni Mahaz, an umbrella grouping of several religious parties, could not secure any seat in the lower house. The 87 candidates fielded by the bloc, however, won 359,589 votes.
The Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) won three seats in the National Assembly, fetching 211,989 votes. The party had fielded 30 candidates.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s Awami Muslim League Pakistan fielded 16 candidates and could win only one seat from Rawalpindi. It bagged 93,051 votes. The party with the lowest votes was Pakistan Awami Inqalab with a lone candidate receiving seven votes.

Voting positions: PTI won more popular votes than PPP – The Express Tribune