The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) outlined the mechanisms for allotting reserved seats to victorious political entities and forming government infrastructures.
The allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities in the provincial legislatures adheres to a specific formula.
The reserved seats allocation formula dictates that a political party earns one seat for women for every 9 general seats won (equivalent to 4.5%) and a minority seat for every 37.12% of general seats secured. For instance, the Punjab Assembly, which comprises 297 general seats, allocates 66 seats for women and 8 for minorities.
In Punjab, the allocation results indicate the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is slated to acquire 30 out of the 66 seats designated for women, with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) each securing two. The distribution of the remaining 32 seats depends on the affiliation decisions of independent legislators.
The Sindh Assembly, with 168 seats, requires a majority of 85 seats for governance. From its 130 general seats, 29 are reserved for women and 9 for minorities, following allocation ratios of 4.48% and 14.44%, respectively. The PPP is expected to secure 19 women’s reserved seats and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) six, with the balance influenced by independents.
In the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, which has 145 seats, 115 are general. A governance majority requires 73 seats. The reserved seats for women and minorities are distributed based on achieving 4.42% for every 29 general seats won. This results in 21 of the 26 reserved seats being potentially influenced by the party affiliations of independent candidates.
The Balochistan Assembly, with 65 seats, necessitates 33 for a governance majority. Of its 51 general seats, 11 are earmarked for women and three for minorities, with an allocation rate of 4.63% for every 17 general seats. Parties such as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), PPP, and PML-N are among the beneficiaries of these reserved seats, with additional allocations extending to other parties and independents.
