ISLAMABAD: The 1997 general elections in Pakistan saw a voter turnout of 34.8% for the National Assembly, with 19.69 million votes cast out of 56.62 million registered voters. The elections, held on February 3, 1997, followed the dismissal of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's government by President Farooq Leghari. The Pakistan Muslim League (N), led by Nawaz Sharif, achieved a two-thirds majority, marking the largest parliamentary mandate to that date.

According to Free and Fair Election Network, the gender-disaggregated voter registration data for these elections were not separately recorded, reflecting the absence of systematic disaggregation in election frameworks prior to 2018. Of the total votes cast, 450,538 ballots, or 2.3%, were rejected due to various issues such as incorrect ballot papers and unclear markings. This rejection rate serves as an indicator of voter instruction quality and ballot design accessibility.

The province of Punjab recorded the highest number of votes, aligned with its share of the national electorate, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan showed lower figures relative to their smaller electorates. The 1997 turnout rate of 34.8% is the lowest recorded in Pakistan's general elections from 1970 to 2024, contrasting with the highest turnout of 54.9% in 2013.