Only eight women won general seats out of 464 contestants in NA

Islamabad : According to the data collected by National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) from Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) website, eight women won National Assembly elections on general seats out of the total 171 women contestants for the lower house for General Elections 2018. The data was based on results that came out till Friday noon.

On general seats for provincial assemblies, eight women won the elections out of 296 total women candidates for provincial assemblies till Friday noon. A record number of women contested elections on general seats this year, thanks to the Election Act 2017 which requires a fixed five per cent quota allotted to women on general seats by all political parties contesting elections.

The NCSW website says that a total of 464 women contested for general seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies. Of these 175 women campaigned as independent candidates and 289 women on political party tickets. Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians gave maximum number of tickets to women (41), whereas Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) gave 39 tickets and Pakistan Muslim League gave 36 tickets to women.

Among other parties, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) gave 35 tickets to women, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) gave 23 tickets, Awami National Party gave 17 tickets, Pak Serzameen Party gave 13 tickets, Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT) gave 11 tickets, National Party (NP) gave 8 tickets, All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) gave 8 tickets and Grand Democratic Alliance gave 7 tickets to women on national and provincial polls.

Those who won the elections on National Assembly Seats include Zartaj Gul (PTI) from NA-191, Dera Ghazi Khan, Fehmida Mirza (GDA) from NA-230 Badin, Shams un Nisa (PPPP) from NA-223 Thatta, Nafisa Shah (PPPP) from NA-208 Khairpur, Ghulam Bibi Bharwana (PTI) from NA-115, Shazia Mari (PPPP) NA- 216 Sanghar, Zubaida Jalal (BAP) from NA-271 Balochistan and Mehnaz Akbar Aziz (PML-N) from NA-77 Narowal.

At provincial level, 5 women contestants from PPPP won elections including Faryal Talpur from PS-10, Azra Fazal Pechuho from PS-37, Saleem Bibi from PS 96 and Ashifa Riaz from PS 122 and Sonia from PP 123. Two independent candidates including Kishwar Zehra from PS 125 and Syeda Maimanat Mohsin (Jugnu Mohsin) from PP-184 made it to provincial assemblies. One women contestant from PML N Naghma Mushtaq won elections from PP-223.

Talking to ‘The News’, Chairperson NCSW Khawar Mumtaz said that the Commission salutes all women who contested general election whether they won or lost. “They stood against all challenges and perceptions in the way of women joining mainstream politics,” she said.

Overall turn out of women voters remained 10 per cent less than men. According to preliminary statistics released by Free and Fair Elections Network (FAFEN) on Friday, turnout of women voters in 241 constituencies out of total 272 constituencies remained 47 per cent of the total registered women voters as compared to 58.3 per cent of men.

The report says that there were at least two National Assembly constituencies where, according to the provisional result, the women’s voter turnout was below 10 per cent of the polled votes – NA-10 (Shangla) and NA-48 (North Waziristan Agency). Under the provisions of the new Elections Act, where the turnout is below 10 per cent of the polled votes after the consolidation of results, the Election Commission has the power to declare the elections in these constituencies null and void and to conduct a re-poll in one or more polling stations or the entire constituency.

NCSW website says that number of registered women voters in General Elections 2018 increased from 38 million in 2013 to 47 million in 2018, showing an increase of almost 9 million. In percentage, the increase is 24 per cent in 2018 as compared to 5.5 per cent in 2013.