MUZAFFARGARH: In the recent General Election of 2024, the elected Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from NA-176 Muzaffargarh-II secured a win with just 12% of the support from registered voters. The MNA garnered 53,944 votes, representing 23% of the 237,784 ballots cast, in a constituency with 446,099 registered voters. Under Pakistan's First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) electoral system, candidates only need to have the highest number of votes to win a seat, not a majority.
According to the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), the Final Consolidated Result (Form-49) of the constituency showed a voter turnout of 53%. Despite the victory, 73% of the voters who participated on February 8, 2024, supported other candidates. The runner-up in the election secured 18% of the ballots cast, the third-placed candidate received 15%, and the remaining candidates collectively obtained 40% of the votes. Additionally, 9,580 ballots, or 4%, were declared invalid.
This analysis is part of FAFEN's broader review of electoral representativeness across Pakistan's 266 National Assembly constituencies. Under the FPTP system, elected members often do not have majority support. FAFEN highlights that a proportional representation (PR) system, which allocates legislative seats based on vote shares, would better reflect a broader range of voter preferences. The data from Pakistan's GE-2024 underscore the discrepancy between the votes cast and the representation achieved in the National Assembly. FAFEN's detailed findings can be accessed through their constituency-by-constituency series.