All eyes are glued to television screens as political parties, independent candidates, and voters eagerly await the unofficial and unconfirmed results of the general elections 2024.
Despite the suspension of mobile phone and internet services, a significant number of people across the country exercised their right to vote, casting their ballots to elect representatives for national and provincial assemblies across 855 constituencies in the world’s fifth-largest democracy.
The 2024 elections have surpassed previous ones in 2018 on various fronts, including a record budget allocation of Rs48 billion, a notable increase in the number of voters exceeding 50% of the total population, an unprecedented ratio of independent candidates, totaling nearly 18,000 candidates, and a substantial amount of paper required for printing 260 million ballots.
Over 1.4 million polling staff diligently performed their duties at 90,675 polling stations, with 16,766 deemed extremely sensitive. To encourage voter turnout, February 8 was declared a public holiday.
Polling commenced at 8 am and continued until 5 pm nationwide, with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) opting against extending polling hours despite reports of irregularities from several constituencies and a request from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for an extension.
Early Thursday morning, the Interior Ministry suspended cellular services citing security concerns. While the country witnessed a predominantly peaceful polling process, a terrorist attack in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, tragically claimed the lives of four policemen.
Although election results were expected to be finalized a few hours after midnight, there is currently a notable delay in the release of unofficial results, with the complete compilation anticipated in the early hours of Friday through the ECP’s Result Management System.
