During the General Elections 2024, the Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from NA-16 Abbottabad-I was elected with 105,300 votes, which made up 42 percent of the 249,295 ballots cast, and only 19 percent of the 554,426 registered voters in the constituency.
According to the Final Consolidated Result (Form-49) of the constituency, the voter turnout stood at 45 percent. The runner-up candidate secured 35 percent of the ballots cast; the third-placed candidate received nine percent, while the remaining 14 candidates collectively secured 11 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 136,648 or 55 percent of them voted for other candidates, indicating they did not want the winner to represent them. As many as 7,347 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.
