File photo. Arif Ali—AFP
No major political party of Pakistan has voiced any objections to the unofficial results of the Balochistan local government elections, which is a great success of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Secretary Umar Hameed said on Tuesday.
“Local government elections were held in 32 of 34 districts in Balochistan,” he said in a statement. “The conduct of free, fair, impartial, peaceful, transparent and successful local body polls indicates that the people of Balochistan desire peace and democracy,” he said, adding that the polling had occurred after almost 9 years and was only possible through the hard work of the ECP.
“The people of Balochistan made history by rubbishing threats from anti-state and anti-social elements in large numbers to exercise their right to vote,” he said. “The ECP is thankful to the people of Balochistan, law enforcement authorities, media, and all candidates for the successful conduct of these elections,” he wrote, adding that the tenure of the previous local government in Balochistan had expired in January 2019.
Stressing that the ECP had been taking all necessary actions, both before and after the expiry of the local government’s tenure, to ensure the elections were held and had also been supported by the judiciary in this endeavor, he said that this was only possible through collective efforts. Summarizing the local body polls, Hameed said: “Polling was held on May 22, 2022 in 32 districts of Balochistan. There were 5,226 polling stations, with 576 male-only; 562 women-only; 4,088 general; and 149 improvised polling stations.” He said that 1974 polling stations had been declared “sensitive,” 2,034 “highly sensitive,” and 1,218 “normal,” with adequate security arrangements in accordance with the threat level. “Chief Election Commissioner SIkandar Sultan Raja personally monitored the polling process, he added.
Hameed regretted that eight polling stations had to be closed during the voting process because polling material was snatched; ballot boxes were broken; ballot papers were stolen; and polling staff were harassed. “Serious notice has been taken of these incidents,” he said, adding that legal action would be taken against all culprits.
According to unofficial results of more than 1,800 seats, independent candidates are leading on 1,890 seats, with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) trailing in second with 480. In third and fourth place are the Balochistan Awami Party and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party with 480 and 310 seats, respectively. The standing of the remaining parties is as follows: National Party 151 seats; BNP-Mengal 102 seats; Pakistan Peoples Party 135 seats; BNP-Awami 68 seats; Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 71 seats; Awami National Party 44 seats; Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) 20 seats; Jamhoori Watan Party 19 seats; and the Jamaat-e-Islami at 16 seats.
While largely peaceful, sporadic cases of unrest were reported in some areas where candidates and polling agents clashed. There were no local body polls in two districts—Quetta and Lasbela—due to a high court order involving objections against new delimitation.