2015 Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly election

The 2015 Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly elections were held on 8 June 2015.^[2] Elections were held in 24 constituencies, each electing one member to the 2nd Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.^[3][4] 269 candidates contested these elections,^[1] either representing one of the political parties of Gilgit-Baltistan (at the time of the 2020 elections) or being an independent candidate.^[1]

2015 Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly Election

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All 24 directly elected seats in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly[a] 13 seats needed for a majority
Registered	618,364[1]
Turnout	61.29%[1]
First party Second party Third party   Leader Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman Syed Ahmed Iqbal Rizvi Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi Party PML(N) MWM ITP Leader's seat Gilgit-II (won) Did not contest Did not contest Seats before 2 0 0 Seats won 21 2 2 Seat change 19 2 2 Popular vote 129,526 39,800 18,491 Percentage 34.17% 10.50% 4.88%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Syed Mehdi Shah Not declared Party PPP PTI Leader's seat Skardu-I (lost) - Seats before 20 Not contested Seats won 1 1 Seat change 19 1 Popular vote 69,216 42,101 Percentage 18.26% 11.11%
Map of Gilgit Baltistan showing Assembly Constituencies and winning parties
Chief Minister before election Syed Mehdi Shah Pakistan Peoples Party Elected Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)

618,364 voters in Gilgit-Baltistan had the ability to exercise their right to vote in the elections and were able to vote across the province.^[1] 329,475 of the people registered to vote were male and 288,889 were female (a gender gap of 8%).^[5]

Background

In 2009, the Government of Pakistan passed "The Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-governance Order, 2009, and the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari. This order renamed the Northern Areas as "Gilgit-Baltistan" and gave it a limited amount of internal autonomy within Pakistan and self-governance by allowing the people of Gilgit-Baltistan to have elections, where they could elect members of the "Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly". The position "Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan" was also made. The Assembly would have five-year-long terms.^[6]

The first Gilgit-Baltistan elections were held in 2009, and the Pakistan Peoples Party, who then ruled at the federal level as well, won the election by a large margin and formed the government,^[7] and Syed Mehdi Shah became the first Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Campaign and Polling

495 candidates from different political parties and Independents submitted their nomination papers out of which 50 nominations were rejected. 445 candidates took part in elections. Parties like Pakistan Muslim League (N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Peoples Party stood candidates on all 24 assembly seats.^[8]

Polling took place on June 8, 2015 without any break from morning 8 am to evening 4 pm. Total number of 1143 polling stations were set up across the province. Out of 1143 polling stations, 282 were declared highly sensitive, while 269 polling stations were declared sensitive. About 5500 Military Soldiers along with 4356 policemen were deployed to perform security duties to make peaceful polling across the province.^[9][10]

Results

Pakistan Muslim League (N) emerged as the majority party by winning 15 out of 24 general seats. Taking into account the 4 out of 6 women seats and 2 out of 3 technocrat seats that they successfully gained, their seats increased to 21. They won a lopsided majority in the assembly.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				General	Women	Technocrat	Total	+/–
	Pakistan Muslim League (N)	129,526	34.17	15	4	2	21	+18
	Pakistan Peoples Party	69,216	18.26	1	0	0	1	–19
	Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf	42,101	11.11	1	0	0	1	+1
	Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen	39,800	10.50	2	1	0	3	+3
	Islami Tehreek Pakistan	18,491	4.88	2	1	1	4	+4
	Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)	11,148	2.94	1	0	0	1	–3
	Balawaristan National Front (Naji)	5,259	1.39	1	0	0	1	–
	All Pakistan Muslim League	4,485	1.18	0	0	0	0	New
	Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan	3,237	0.85	0	0	0	0	–1
	Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London	591	0.16	0	0	0	0	–1
	Other parties	5,842	1.54	0	0	0	0	–
	Independents	49,336	13.02	1	0	0	1	–3
Total		379,032	100.00	24	6	3	33	0
Registered voters/turnout		618,364	–
Source: ECGB

Aftermath

The newly elected assembly members took oath on 24 June 2015.^[11] Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman was elected as 2nd Chief Minister of Gilgit Baltistan unopposed. He took oath on 26 June 2015.^[12]

Notes

1. There are 33 seats total in the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly. Six seats are reserved for women, three seats are reserved for technocrats, and these nine seats are allocated using proportional representation. More information on the allocation of these seats is given in the section "Government formation" of this article.