Only 6 of 150 women candidates win NA seats: Report

No female candidate won a National Assembly seat from Balochistan or K-P.

ISLAMABAD: Of the 150 women candidates who filed nomination papers for the National Assembly general elections, only six were able to win their way to the lower house.

According to election results released by the Election Commission of Pakistan and processed by The Researchers -- a nonprofit organisation -- only three women candidates each from Punjab and Sindh won the elections on a general seat.

No women candidates succeeded in winning a National Assembly seat from Khyber-Pakthunkhwa and Balochistan, according to The Researchers.

The three successful women candidates from Punjab, Sumera Malik, Ghulam Bibi Bharwana and Saira Afzal Tarar, all belong to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) while the three winning candidates from Sindh - Faryal Talpur, Fehmida Mirza and Azra Afzal Peechu - were contesting on a ticket from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Only 60 of the 150 women candidates were running from a political party’s platform. ECP data examined by the The Researchers revealed.

 

National Assembly				2013
No	Province	Constituency	Name	Party	Votes
1	Punjab	NA-69 Khushab I	Ms. Sumaira Malik	PML-N	118,108
2		NA-88 Jhang (Jhang Cum Chiniot)	Ms. Ghulam Bibi Bharwana	PML-N	87,002
3		NA-102 Hafizabad I	Ms. Saira Afzal Tarar	PML-N	93,013
4	Sindh	NA-207 Larkana IV	Ms. Faryal Talpur	PPPP	83,916
5		NA-213 Nawabshah I	Dr. Azra Afzal Peechu	PPPP	111,667
6		NA-225 Badin II	Dr. Fahmida Mirza	PPPP	110,684

Source: The Researchers

For the provincial assemblies, only 10 of the 313 women who filed nomination papers from 213 constituencies will sit in the legislatures for the next five-year term.

Out of the 10 women, eight belong to Punjab while one candidate each is from Sindh and Balochistan.

No woman won a seat to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly in election 2013, according to ECP results processed by The Researchers.

All eight successful women candidates in the Punjab Assembly are from the PML-N.

The one woman on a general seat in the future Balochistan Assembly is also a PML-N ticket holder.

One PPP woman candidate, Saniya, won from PS-109 Karachi to be a part of the next Sindh Assembly.

Out of the 313 women candidates for provincial assemblies, 115 were party ticket holders while the remaining 198 were independents.

 

Provincial Assemblies				2013
No	Province	Constituency	Name	Party	Votes
1	Punjab	PP-34 Sargodha III	Dr. Nadia Aziz	PML-N	33,744
2		PP-53 Faisalabad III	Ms. Iffat Miraj Awan	PML-N	44,018
3		PP-78 Jhang II	Ms. Rashida Yakoob	PML-N	42,194
4		PP-88 Toba Tek Singh V	Ms. Nazia Raheel	PML-N	36,622
5		PP-101 Gujranwala XI	Mohtarma Riaz Amanat Ali Virik	PML-N	24,413
6		PP-116 Mandi -Bahuddin	Ms. Hameeda Waheeduddin	PML-N	52,712
7		PP-185 Okara I	Samina Noor	PML-N	26,621
8		PP-206 Multan III	Ms. Naghma Mushtaq Lang	PML-N	43,050
9	Sindh	PS-109 Karachi XXI	Ms. Saniya	PPPP	53,926
10	Balochistan	PB-26 Jaffarabad II	Ms. Rahat Jamali	PML-N	12,521

Source: The Researchers