The Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) is a political party based in the

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 ...

province of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

founded in 2018 by political dissidents of the

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 ...

and the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) in Balochistan. The party emerged as the largest party in

as a result of the

2018 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 25 July 2018 to elect the members of the 15th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties were Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by Imran Khan, the Pakistan Muslim ...

. It leads a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

in the province and is also a part of the ruling coalition in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. It has been described as pro-establishment party in Balochistan.

Origins

On 24 December 2015, Sanaullah Zehri of the

was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Balochistan. His tenure lasted for two years, until on 2 January 2018, dissident MPAs of his own party rebelled against him and decided to support the opposition in a

motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

against him. Fearing defeat, Zehri resigned as Chief Minister on 9 January 2018, and was replaced four days later by Abdul Quddus Bizenjo on 13 January. This was largely seen as a setback for the PML-N in the province. Two months later in the Senate elections, the PML-N failed to secure a single seat in the province. Instead, independents supported by the new provincial government won six out of the 11 seats that were up for election. This was seen as another setback for the PML-N. Furthermore, this group of senators, with the support of the provincial government, decided to launch their own candidate for the Election of

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

in the senate. This group secured the backing of

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. ...

, the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

and many other parties which allowed them to elect their candidate Sadiq Sanjrani as Senate Chairman, securing 57 out of 103 votes.

Foundation

Following these events, rumours emerged of a new political party being formed. On 29 March 2018, Saeed Ahmed Hashmi and Anwar ul Haq Kakar announced the creation of the BAP and declared that it had the support of 32 out of 65 lawmakers in the Balochistan Assembly. On 16 May 2018, the party elected Jam Kamal Khan, former Federal Minister of State for Petroleum, as their leader.

Elections

2018 election

The party has only fielded candidates in one election since its founding: the

. In the election it fielded 67 candidates on all of the general seats in

, of which 19 were elected (15 PA, 4 NA). This result allowed the party to form the provincial government in the province. As well as this, they also aided the

in forming the federal government by supporting them with their 5 MNAs. On 28 March 2022, the party announced that they will support opposition parties in the no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan.

Electoral performance

Senate of Pakistan

National Assembly

Balochistan Assembly

Notes

References

{{Pakistani political parties 2018 establishments in Pakistan Islamic political parties in Pakistan Member parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement Muslim League breakaway groups Political parties established in 2018 Political parties in Pakistan