During the General Elections 2024, the Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from NA-123 Lahore-VII was elected with 63,953 votes, which comprised 40 percent of the 159,494 ballots cast, and only 19 percent of the 338,780 registered voters in the constituency.
According to the Final Consolidated Result (Form-49) of the constituency, the voter turnout stood at 47 percent. 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 91,696 or 57 percent of them voted for other candidates, indicating they did not want the winner to represent them.
The runner-up candidate secured 30 percent of the ballots cast; the third-placed candidate received 13 percent, while the remaining candidates collectively secured 14 percent of the votes. As many as 3,845 or two percent of the total ballots 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.
