Provincial elections were held in

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

on 8 February 2024 to elect a new provincial legislature. On 5 August 2023, after the approval of the results of the 2023 digital census by the Council of Common Interests headed by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Shehbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the 20th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between Ap ...

, elections have been delayed for several months, as new delimitations will be published on 14 December 2023. On 2 November 2023, the

Election Commission of Pakistan The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is an independent, autonomous, permanent and constitutionally established federal body responsible for organizing and conducting elections to the national parliament, provincial legislatures, local g ...

announced, in agreement with the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

Arif Alvi Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi () is a Pakistani politician who served as the 13th President of Pakistan, in office from 2018 to 2024. He was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from June 2013 to May 2018 and again from August to September 2018. ...

, that the elections will be held on 8 February 2024. This election will be held concurrently with nationwide general elections and other provincial elections.

Background

In the 2018 election, the newly formed

Balochistan Awami Party The Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) is a political party based in the Balochistan province of Pakistan founded in 2018 by political dissidents of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) in Balochistan. The party emerged ...

(BAP), created by former members of

Pakistan Muslim League (Q) The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam Group) ; ''Pākistān Muslim Līg (Qāf)'', Acronyms: PML(Q), PML-Q, PMLQ, "Q League" (officially registered as the Pakistan Muslim League) is a political party in Pakistan. As of the 2024 parliamentary e ...

(PML-Q) and

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (N) or (PML(N)) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right, Conservatism in Pakistan, conservative political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate of Pakistan, Senate and the larges ...

(PML-N), emerged as the largest party in the province by winning 24 seats. The

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal The Muttahida Majlis–e–Amal (MMA; Urdu: , ) is a political alliance consisting of conservative, Islamist, Religion in Pakistan, religious, and right-wing parties of Pakistan. Naeem Siddiqui (the founder of Tehreek e Islami) proposed such a ...

(MMA) and the

Balochistan National Party (Mengal) The Balochistan National Party or Balochistan National Party (Mengal) (Urdu: بلوچستان نيشنل پارٹی ; ) is a political party in Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan, Pakistan. BNP believes in more provincial rights and greater auton ...

(BNP-M) became the second and third largest parties by securing 10 seats each. The

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) won 7 seats and emerged as the fourth largest party in the province for the very first time. The PML(N), the

Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party The Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (; ), abbreviated as PMAP or PKMAP, is a political party in Pakistan's Balochistan province. It was founded by Mahmood Khan Achakzai, who was elected as the chairman, and Sher Ali Bacha, who served as the General ...

(PMAP) and the National Party faced their worst ever defeats, as they won one, one, and zero seats, respectively. Since no party got the majority, the BAP, PTI,

Awami National Party The Awami National Party (ANP; , ; lit. ''People's National Party'') is a Pashtun nationalist, secular and leftist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986 and its current president is Aimal Wali Khan, g ...

(ANP) and Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) formed a coalition government. On 26 September 2021, a political crisis occurred in the province after a motion of a no-confidence motion was tabled against Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani. Alyani resigned on 24 October 2021. Abdul Quddus Bizenjo became the new Chief Minister on 29 October 2021. On 12 August 2023, the Assembly was dissolved by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Abdul Wali Kakar on Bizenjo's advice.

Ban on PTI from contesting as a party

On 22 December 2023, the

(ECP) decided against letting the PTI retain its electoral symbol, arguing that the party had failed to hold intra-party elections. On 22 December, the PTI approached the

Peshawar High Court The Peshawar High Court (PHC, ) is the provincial and highest judicial institution of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. It is located in the provincial capital Peshawar. The Parliament passed a bill extending the jurisdiction of the Supreme Cour ...

(PHC) against the ECP's order and hence, a single-member bench suspended the ECP's order until 9 January 2024. On 30 December 2023, the ECP filed a review application within the PHC, and days later, a two-member bench withdrew the suspension order as it heard the case. However, on 10 January 2024, the two-member bench had declared the ECP's order to be "illegal, without any lawful authority, and of no legal effect. On 11 January, the ECP challenged this ruling in the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, and on 13 January, a three-member bench ruled in favor of the ECP and stripped the PTI of its electoral symbol. As a consequence of this ruling, the PTI could not allot party tickets to any of its candidates. Therefore, all candidates of the party will be listed as independent candidates and each will have a different electoral symbol.

Schedule

The schedule of the election was announced by the

on 15 December 2023.

Electoral system

The 65 seats of the Balochistan Assembly consist of 51 general seats, whose members are elected by the

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

voting system through single-member constituencies. 11 seats are reserved for women and 3 seats are reserved for non-Muslims. The members on these seats are elected through proportional representation based on the total number of general seats secured by each political party.

Results

Division-wise results

District-wise results

Constituency-wise results

Members elected on Reserved seats

Aftermath

After Elections 4 Independents elected from PB-3, PB-39, PB-43 and PB-47 joined

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 cu ...

and 2 from PB-41 and PB-51 joined

. PPP and PML(N) both got 3 reserved seats for women each, JUI(F) got 2 and ANP and NP got 1 seats each. PML(N), PPP and JUI(F) each got 1 seat for Non-Muslims.

Elections for Speaker and Deputy Speaker

Abdul Khaliq Khan Achakzai of PML(N) and Ghazala Gola of PPP elected unopposed as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Balochistan Assembly respectively.

Elections for Chief Minister

Sarfraz Bugti Mir Sarfraz Bugti is a Pakistani politician who is currently serving as the Chief Minister of Balochistan since March 2024. He belongs to the Pakistan People's Party. Prior to his current role, Bugti has served as Home and Tribal Affairs Minist ...

of PPP elected as

Chief Minister of Balochistan The Chief Minister of Balochistan () is the head of government of the of Balochistan. The prime minister leads the legislative branch of the Government of Balochistan, and is elected by the Provincial Assembly. Given that he has the assembly' ...

unopposed.

Notes

References

{{Balochistan elections Balochistan provincial election Balochistan provincial election Elections in Balochistan