2018 Balochistan provincial election

2018 Balochistan provincial election

← 2013 25 July 2018 2024 →
elected members →
All 65 seats in the Provincial Assembly 33 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	45.27% (3.47pp)[1]
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jam Kamal Khan Maulana Noorullah Akhtar Mengal Party BAP MMA BNP (M) Leader's seat Lasbela-II Killa Saifullah Khuzdar-III Last election New Party 8 seats, 15.80% 2 seats, 6.19% Seats won 24 10 10 Seat change 24 2 8 Popular vote 446,795 261,742 126,854 Percentage 24.44 15.28 9.04 Swing new 0.52 2.85   Fourth party   Leader Yar Muhammad Rind Party PTI Leader's seat Kachhi-cum-Mastung Last election 0 seats, 1.86% Seats won 7 Seat change 7 Popular vote 109,757 Percentage 6.05 Swing 4.19
Map of Balochistan Showing Assembly Constituencies and Winning parties
Chief Minister before election Abdul Quddus Bizenjo BAP Elected Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan BAP

Provincial elections were held in the Pakistani province of Balochistan on 25 July 2018.^[2][3] Newly formed Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) emerged as the largest party by winning 24 seats followed by Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal who won 10 seats. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf won 7 seats for the very first time.

The 2013 elections resulted in a hung assembly, before Pakistan Muslim League (N), National Party, and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party joined hands to form a coalition government.^[4] A power-sharing agreement was also brokered between PML-N and NP where the province's Chief Ministership tenure would be bifurcated between the two parties. In consequence, NP's Abdul Malik Baloch served as chief minister from 2013 to 2015 before he was replaced by PML-N's Sanaullah Khan Zehri at the end of 2015.^[5][6]

However, Zehri couldn't complete his term as on 2 January 2018, a number of dissident members from the ruling PML-N colluded with opposition lawmakers to submit a no-confidence motion against him. Seeing that he has lost the majority of the house's support in the ensuing turmoil, Zehri resigned from his post before a no-confidence vote could take place.^[7] Pakistan Muslim League (Q)'s, Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, an opposition lawmaker and one of the leaders of the no-confidence bloc, was elected as the province's 15th Chief Minister. He secured 41 of the 65 votes.^[8][9]

This in-house change was also important in the lead-up to the 2018 Senate elections as the bloc managed to secure 6 of the 12 seats for the province, with no seat for PML-N.^[10] Further down the line, the group was also successful in making an alliance with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Peoples Party for the election of the Senate chairman, leading to their combined candidate from Balochistan, Sadiq Sanjrani, being elected to the post.^[11]

On 29 March 2018, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar and Saeed Hashmi, with the support of Bizenjo, launched a new political party by the name of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP). It was composed of independent candidates, dissident PML-N lawmakers as well as PML-Q members ^[12][13]

On 13 July, a suicide bombing killed at least 131 people including BAP candidate for Balochistan Assembly, Nawabzada Siraj Raisani and over 200 injured.^[14]

Party		Votes		Seats
				General				Women	Non-Muslims	Total	+/−
		No.	%	Contested	Won	Independents joined	Total
	Balochistan Awami Party	444,257	24.44	49	15	4	19	4	1	24	New
	Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal	277,659	15.28	47	8	0	8	2	1	11	New
	Balochistan National Party (Mengal)	164,288	9.04	40	7	0	7	2	1	10	8
	Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf	109,757	6.05	38	5	1	6	1	0	7	7
	Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party	118,083	6.50	25	1	0	1	0	0	1	13
	Balochistan National Party (Awami)	68,925	3.79	26	2	0	2	1	0	3	3
	Jamhoori Wattan Party	28,313	1.56	12	1	0	1	0	0	1	1
	Awami National Party	49,595	2.73	22	3	0	3	1	0	4	3
	Pakistan Muslim League (N)	28,065	1.54	20	1	0	1	0	0	1	11
	Hazara Democratic Party	12,803	0.70	2	2	0	2	0	0	2	2
	Pakistan People's Party	56,095	3.09	39	0	0	0	0	0	0
	National Party	89,168	4.91	26	0	0	0	0	0	0	10
	Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan	10,816	0.59	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	New
	Other Parties	51,480	2.83	111	0	0
	Independents	308,083	16.95	476	5	-	0			0
	Valid Votes	1,817,387	95.67	943	50		50	11	3	64
	Rejected votes	82,178	4.33
	Total Votes Polled	1,899,565	100
	Registered voters/Turnout	4,194,243	45.29	Election was postponed in PP-35 Mastung[15]
Source: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)[16][17]

• 2018 Pakistani general election
• Punjab Provincial Election, 2018
• Sindh Provincial Election, 2018
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Election, 2018