During the General Elections 2024, the Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from NA-11 Shangla was elected with 61,204 votes, which made up 40 percent of the 154,842 ballots cast, and only 13 percent of the 465,602 registered voters in the constituency.
According to the Final Consolidated Result (Form-49) of the constituency, the voter turnout stood at 33 percent. The runner-up candidate secured 36 percent of the ballots cast, the third-placed candidate received seven percent, while the remaining 13 candidates collectively secured 14 percent votes.
Despite the victory, the winner did not have the support of the majority of voters who exercised their right to vote on February 8, 2024, as 87,798 or 57 percent of them voted for other candidates, indicating they did not want the winner to represent them. As many as 5,840 ballots (three percent) were declared invalid, meaning they did not go to any candidate.
This story is part of FAFEN’s constituency-wise analysis on the unrepresentativeness of Pakistan’s electoral outcomes. The series highlights how the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system can skew representation in multi-candidate electoral contests of Pakistan, where three or more contenders are common. In such contests, a majority of voters may feel unrepresented and raise questions about the legitimacy, which may potentially contribute to political instability.
Stay tuned to the FAFEN website to read the story of your constituency.
Explore more stories from the series here.
