Pakistan elections 2018: Looking back at parties’ seat share after 2013 poll

Islamabad, July 25: Pakistan went to its general elections on Wednesday, July 25, that would see only the second democratic transition in its 70-plus years of independence. The former ruling party - Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) or PML-N - is in quite a disadvantage this time following the ouster of former premier Nawaz Sharif while cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was considered favourite to land in the saddle of power. The other big party - Pakistan People's Party (PPP) - has remained more of a fringe player in this election.

Here we look at the important numbers that are associated with the elections in Pakistan - especially at the national level:

Total number of seats in Pakistan's National Assembly (NA) - 342 (out of these, 70 are reserved for women (60) and non-Muslims(10) and these are allocated proportionately to parties based on their electoral performances):

In the 2013 election, the PML-N led by Nawaz Sharif won 122 seats out of the 272 unreserved seats (a lion-share of which came from Punjab) which meant it needed a few helping hands to attain the figure of 137 to get more than half the majority in 272-member NA excluding the reserved seats. Several independents along with winning candidates from the reserved seats later joined the PPP to take its tally to 189, which enabled it to form the government.

The PPP, which was in power between 2008 and 2013, saw a huge slump in the 2013 election, managing only 31 seats and along with the help of independents and reserved seat winners, stretched their tally to 42. The majority of the PPP's support came from Sindh province.

The PTI, which formed the provincial government in Khyber-Pakhtunkwa (KPK), got 27 seats in the NA with 17 of them coming from KPK. With independents and reserved winners, its final tally was 36 and it finished as the third biggest party.

Other parties that got into two-figure tally are Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) got 24 seats (out of 342); Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam(F) got 15 seats (out of 342) while Independents got 28 seats. The sum total of other parties' seats in this selection was 28.