About 128 million voters were registered to vote in national and state elections amid political and economic challenges.
Pakistan is counting votes in a general election marked by violence by armed groups and the suspension of mobile phone services. More than 128 million people were registered to elect representatives to the National Assembly and the country's four provincial legislatures.
Results will appear below as soon as they are available.
How voting works in Pakistan
Each voter can cast two votes: one for the National Assembly and one for the provincial assembly.
The National Assembly has 336 seats: 266 are decided by direct vote, while 60 seats are reserved for women and 10 for minorities, which are allocated on the basis of 5 percent proportional representation in the federal parliament.
A party or coalition will need 134 seats to form a government.
National seat breakdown
Based on the results of the national census carried out in 2023, the constituencies went through a delimitation process. The boundaries of many electoral districts were changed and the number of seats was reduced from 272 to 266.
- Punjab: 141 seats
- Sindh: 61 seats
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 45 seats
- Balochistan: 16 seats
- Islamabad Capital Territory: 3 seats
Who are the main candidates to be the next Prime Minister of Pakistan?
The crackdown on the largest opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and its leader, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, fueled concerns that the elections would not be free and fair. Here are the main parties in the country:
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN)
Three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan after four years (in late 2023) to take over as party chief. Several corruption cases that led to his dismissal as prime minister in 2017 have since been dropped. Shehbaz Sharif, his younger brother, has also briefly been prime minister in an alliance with key opposition parties to remove Khan as prime minister. in April 2022. If the PMLN forms a government, it is unclear which brother could become prime minister, but Nawaz is likely to hold the strings in either direction.
- Seats won in 2018: 64
- Seats won in 2013: 126
Pakistan People's Party (PPP)
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is the descendant of the Bhutto dynasty. He will lead his party after serving as foreign minister for a brief period following Khan's ouster as prime minister in 2022. One of the youngest mainstream politicians, his campaign pays attention to climate change, gender equality in the economy and the fight for civility between parties. His grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his mother Benazir Bhutto ruled the country as prime ministers, and his father Asif Ali Zardari was president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013.
- Seats won in 2018: 43
- Seats won in 2013: 34
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan is the leader of the opposition party PTI. He is currently in prison for cases related to corruption and leaking of state secrets. He led protests against the country's powerful military after his removal from office in 2022. His conviction in a corruption case resulted in his disqualification as a candidate. His party has ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the past decade and the country's most influential province, Punjab, for most of the past five years.
- Seats won in 2018: 116
- Seats won in 2013: 28
