During General Elections 2024, the Member of the National Assembly from NA-1 Chitral Upper-cum-Chitral Lower constituency was elected with 61,944 votes, which made up only 37 percent of the 167,388 ballots cast, or 20 percent of the total registered voters, 313,550.
According to the Final Consolidated Result (Form-49) of the constituency, the voter turnout was 53 percent. The runner-up in the constituency secured 26 percent votes, the third-placed candidate 14 percent, while the remaining seven candidates secured 20 percent votes.
Despite the victory, only around one-third of voters supported the winner, while 100,561 (63 percent) voted for other candidates. This illustrates a fundamental flaw in the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system in which a candidate can win with minority support, while the rest of the voting population remains unrepresented.
FPTP, while simple, is less robust in multi-candidate races like Pakistan’s, where three or more contenders are common. In such contexts, a majority of voters may feel unrepresented, raising questions about the legitimacy, which may potentially contribute to political instability.
This is the first in a series of constituency-by-constituency stories on unrepresentativeness of Pakistan’s electoral outcomes.
