During the General Elections 2024, the Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from NA-18 Haripur was elected with 194,429 votes, which made up 54 percent of the 362,748 ballots cast, with only 27 percent of the 724,915 registered voters in the constituency.

According to the Final Consolidated Result (Form-49) of the constituency, the voter turnout stood at 50 percent. The runner-up candidate secured 31 percent of the total ballots cast, the third-placed candidate received three percent, while the remaining 13 candidates collectively secured nine percent votes.

NA-18 was among 70 out of 265 National Assembly constituencies where the winner could secure a majority of the polled votes. However, the share of the winner’s votes among registered voters remained small. Still, 156,561 or 43 percent of them voted for other candidates, indicating they did not want the winner to represent them. As many as 11,758 ballots (three percent) were declared invalid, meaning they did not go to any candidate.

This story is part of FAFEN’s constituency-wise analysis on the unrepresentativeness of Pakistan’s electoral outcomes. The series highlights how the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system can skew representation in multi-candidate electoral contests of Pakistan, where three or more contenders are common. In such contests, a majority of voters may feel unrepresented and raise questions about the legitimacy, which may potentially contribute to political instability.

Stay tuned to the FAFEN website to read the story of your constituency.

Explore more stories from the series here.