Pakistan Election Facts

We offer special services for journalists visiting Pakistan to cover elections please click here for details

Pakistan has a federal parliamentary system of government. Our parliament consists of the Upper House (Senate) and the Lower House (National Assembly) and the four provincial assemblies and lastly one Gilgit Baltistan Assembly. According to Pakistani constitution Elections for the national and provincial assemblies must take place every five years. National Assambly is lead by the Prime minister and each Provincial assembly is lead by the chief minister of the respective province

There are 4 main provinces in Pakistan besides the Gilgit Baltistan and independent Kashmir

Province	Population (1998)	National Assembly seats	Provincial Assembly seats	Capital
Punjab (Central Province)	73621290	148	297 General 66 Reserved	Lahore
Sindh (South East)	30439893	61	130 General 29 Reserved	Karachi
Balouchistan (South & central Western)	17735912	35	106 general 11 reserved	Quetta
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	6565885	14	129 General 99 reserved	Peshawar
FATA	3176331	12	-	-
Islamabad Capital	805235	2	-	-

Latest Number of voters per electoral area

Province / Area	Male Voters	Female Voters	Total Voters
Balochistan	1,915,388	1,421,271	3,336,659
FATA	1,142,234	596,079	1,738,313
Federal Area	337,900	288,064	625,964
Khyber Pakhtun Khwa	7,008,533	5,257,624	12,266,157
Punjab	27,697,701	21,561,633	49,259,334
Sindh	10,490,631	8,472,744	18,963,375
Total	48,592,387	37,597,415	86,189,802

Download District/gender wise count of voters in all districts of Pakistan From election Commission's web site
Download Gender Wise Provincial Breakup From election Commission's web site
Download Province Wise Breakup From election Commission's web site

National Assembly

The National Assembly of Pakistan consists of 342 seats: 272 general seats, 60 reserved seats for the women and 10 seats for the non-Muslims.

General seats are filled by direct and free vote; the reserved seats are filled through a proportional representation system. Political parties are allotted reserved seats according to the number of general seats won by them in the elections.

Of a total of 272 general seats, Punjab has a share of 148 seats, Sindh has 61 seats, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (former NWFP) has 35 seats, and Balochistan has 14 seats, with 12 seats going to the FATA and 2 to the federal capital.

Pakistan has held six general elections in the past 22 years in 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997 and 2002.

The president of Pakistan, at his discretion, appoints a "Chief Election Commissioner" who heads the Election Commission (EC). The Election Commission is an independent and autonomous constitutional body responsible for conducting free, fair and transparent elections.

In 2008, 49 political parties applied for poll symbols with the EC. In comparison in 2002, 77 political parties took part in the election process.