Sharif party grabs half of Gilgit-Baltistan assembly seats

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharf's party has clinched half of the Gilgit-Baltistan assembly seats in elections held on Monday, and outperformed cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's party.

According to unofficial results, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 12 of the 24 seats for which the polls were held. Two seats each went to Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen and the Independents, Geo TV reported.

One seat each was taken by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Islami Tehreek.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), there were 618,364 registered voters in the region with 288,889 female voters and 329,475 male voters.

A total of 278 candidates were in the fray for the 24 assembly seats.

The PML-N and the PTI fielded candidates in all constituencies, while the PPP contested 22 seats.

The MWM had 15 contesting candidates, All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) 13, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) 10, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) seven, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) six, and Tehreek-e-Islami 12 candidates.

The Gilgit-Baltistan legislative assembly was created through a presidential order in 2009 and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the subsequent elections, completing a five-year term in office.