General elections were held in
Azad Kashmir
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir ( ), is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee:
*
*
* and constituting the western portion of the larger ...
on 21 July 2016 to elect 41 members of the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly. Polling started at 8:00am and continued until 5:00pm.
Campaign
At least 423 candidates ran for the 41 seats, the main competition being between the
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N),
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a political party in Pakistan established in 1996 by cricketer and politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The party is led by Gohar Ali Khan since late 2023. ...
(PTI),
All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference
The All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference () also shortly referred as Muslim Conference (MC) is a political party in Pakistan administered territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The party was founded in 1941 by Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas, and Syed ...
(AJKMC) and the
Pakistan People’s Party
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a centre-left political position, it is curr ...
(PPP). 5,427 polling stations were set up for the election
Results
2,674,586 people were registered to vote in the elections, of whom 1,190,839 were female and 1,483,747 male.
[
The PML-N won 31, the PPP three, and PTI two. In addition, the AJKMC won three seats, the Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party (JKPP) won one seat and one seat was won by an independent. After the election, the PML(N) was able to elect its members to three seats reserved for women, one for ]ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam.
"Ulama ...
, and one for overseas. On the other hand, the PPP was able to win one reserved seat for women. Due to a pre-election agreement with the PML(N), the Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamaat-e-Islami is an Islamist fundamentalist movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamist author and theorist Syed Abul Ala Maududi, who was inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood. It is considered one of the most influential Isla ...
(JI) was also able to get one of its members elected to a reserved seat for women and another to a reserved seat for technocrats
Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...
.
Aftermath
Following these results, the PML(N) was able to form a comfortable majority government, electing Raja Farooq Haider as prime minister of Azad Kashmir
The prime minister of Azad Kashmir (Urdu: , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam lit. 'Grand Vizier', Urdu pronunciation: əˈziːr-ˌeː ˈɑː.zəm is the chief executive of Azad Jammu and Kashmir region of Pakistan. The title of Prime Minister ...
, controlling 36 out of the 49 seats in the assembly, while also enjoying support from the two JI MLAs. His opponents, Chaudhry Yasin of the PPP and Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan of the PTI, each garnered five votes each.
See also
* List of members of the 8th Legislative Assembly of Azad Kashmir
References
{{Azad Kashmiri elections
Azad
Azad