The election score

The PML-N domination of the Pakistan’s electoral scene is visible every which way.  The national level division of votes and shares puts the party way above all else, thanks to its sweep of the Punjab.

But once again, the comparison of the seats and votes percentages reveals that the PML-N remains adept at managing a high number of seats out of a comparatively lower percentage of votes. In fact, apart from the MQM it is the only party to win more seats than votes – percentage wise.

On the other hand, the PPPP, despite its rout, continues to win over more votes than seats.

However, in 2013 it shares this honour now with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf which in terms of seats remains lower than the PPPP but has emerged as the second biggest party at the national level if the share of votes is considered.

In fact, the disconnect between the PTI vote and seat share is the largest of all the parties represented in the bar chart.

Nonetheless, the emergence of the PTI at the national level for a party that had little or no representation in the last two elections is the biggest story of Election 2013.

Even if the party has not been able to win as many seats as some of its more ardent fans or analysts had predicted, the party has made signifcant inroads in two of the four provinces as well as having made its presence felt in Sindh. More details of this phenonemon are provided in the provincial sections.

As usual, the religio-political parties such as JUI-F and JI have not managed much success and stayed below the five per cent mark.

The only other trend is the near obliteration of the PML, which unoffically is known as the PML-Q. Nationally it was the second largest party in 2008 in terms of votes polled and it had bagged a hefty 42 directly elected seats.

Its national presence has now been reduced to two seats and around three per cent of the vote.

In the near future, once the details of the results are finalised, the focus of most analyses will be on the success of PML-N; the emergence of PTI; the unprecedented disaster that was the PPPP and the expected obliteration of the PML.