In the current political situation, it appears that small political parties, with a few seats, can be the kingmaker or game-changer in future politics. In a fraught political situation, small political parties with insignificant looking mandate have also played the role of a spoiler in the past.

The significant role of small parties emerges when there is no single party with a clear or thumping majority. For instance, in the present parliamentary regime, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has a thin majority. It was unable to make an alliance with another major party such as the Pakistan Peoples Party or the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz because of its political narrative. So, the PTI had to depend on the minor political parties to form a coalition government.

In the present National Aassembly, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is a small party with seven seats. The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) and Balochistan Awami Party are right behind it with five seats each. Balochistan National Party ranks next with four, and he Grand Democratic Alliance has only three seats. The Awami Muslim League, the Awami National Party and the Jamhoori Wattan Party have one seat each. Interestingly, these are the parties with perpetual vote banks in their regions, i.e., Karachi city and some areas of urban Punjab, Balochistan, etc. Most likely, these parties will continue to get a similar number of seats because of their uninterrupted vote bank.

“The future role of small parties depends on the political trends and conditions. If no mainstream party gets a clear majority, which appears likely right now, and if elections are held in the coming months, these small parties will have a significant role. They will make or break the situation,” political analyst and social scientist Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais observes. If any party gets a clear majority, then the smaller parties will be cornered, he adds. “The future political narrative will determine the fate of smaller and regional political parties,” he maintains. At the moment, he reckons, it is difficult to predict the position of smaller parties.

Importantly, in the 2013 general elections, the PML-N had emerged as the single largest party with 176 seats. There were 14 smaller parties, including eight independents. In general elections 2008, the two largest parties – the PPP and the PMLN – entered a coalition, but later split, and the PPP formed a coalition with the PMLQ and other parties, making the PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi the deputy prime minister. There were seven parties with a few seats in these general elections, including 18 independents. In general elections, 2002, the PML-Q, the MMA and the National Alliance had entered a coalition with a significant number of seats cornering nine smaller parties, including three independents.

Smaller political parties  position in general election 2018

Party Number of seats

Muttahida Qaumi Movement 7

Pakistan Muslim League (Q) 5

Balochistan Awami Party 5

Balochistan National Party 4

Independents 4

Grand Democratic Alliance 3

Awami Muslim League - Pakistan 1

Awami National Party 1 Jamhoori Wattan Party 1

The author is a staff reporter. He can be reached at   vaqargillani@gmail.com