Pakistan Election 2018: All you need to know

The histocric Pakistan general elections 2018 began on Wednesday as the citizens of the country vote to elect their next prime minister.

This will be the second time in Pakistan’s history that a second successive shift of power from a democratically elected government to another via elections will take place

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But a strange fact of Pakistan’s political history is that till now no prime minister in Pakistan has been able to complete the term of full five years in office.

Know all about Pakistan’s general elections:

The general elections are being held on July 25.

Voting started at 8 am Pacific Time Zone (PST) and will end around 6 pm.

The results of the polls will start rolling out from around 9 pm while the complete scenario of the results are expected to be clear after midnight.

There are a minimum of 10.5 crore registered voters in Pakistan, as per the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)

By using ballots, each voter will vote for two seats from their constituency (National Assembly and the Provincial Assembly)

Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, and Pukhtunkhwa are the four regions for which the voting will be done.

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Seats needed for a party to come to power

A total of 272 direct seats and 70 reserved seats are there in the National Assembly.

At least 137 seats are needed for a single party majority to form the government.

Main contenders for power

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by Imran Khan.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led by Shahbaz Sharif

Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) – an alliance of a religious party