The upcoming general elections will be contested by 175 enlisted political parties and one political alliance, according to details provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday.
The sole political alliance, it said, was the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), led by Pir Pagara Syed Sibghatullah Shah. It also notified a change of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Islahat (PTI)’s name to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarian, led by Pervez Khattak,
According to the ECP’s list, Imran Khan remains the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), though he was replaced by Gohar Ali Khan earlier this month. This discrepancy might be linked to uncertainty over the results of the PTI’s intra-party elections, with the ECP yet to announce its judgment on challenges to it.
The ECP has cited Shehbaz Sharif as the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), while Asif Ali Zardari is the head of the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is the chairman of PPP.
Among other major parties are the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQMP), led by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui; Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), whose president is Abdul Aleem Khan; the Awami National Party (ANP) under Asfandyar Wali Khan; and the Balochistan National Party (BNP), led by , Sardar Akhtar Mengal. Additionally, Maulana Fazlur Rahman is the leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUIF); Sirajul Haq heads the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI); Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain is the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (PMLQ); and Mehmood Khan Achakzai is chairman of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).
Overall, per data provided by the ECP, more than 128.5 million registered voters will decide the fate of the enlisted parties. Of these 128,585,760 voters, 69,263,704 are male, while 59,322,056 are female.