SITREP 5: PAKISTAN'S ELECTIONS: THE LATEST NUMBERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISLAMABAD 000720 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/19/2018 TAGS: PGOV PK PREL SUBJECT: SITREP 5: PAKISTAN'S ELECTIONS: THE LATEST NUMBERS REF: ISLAMABAD 715 Classified By: Anne W. Patterson, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Pakistan's Election Commission continues to tally and review results at its Islamabad headquarters. Final "unofficial results" are not expected until February ¶20. Once these numbers are known, candidates winning in multiple constituencies will need to resign from all but one of their seats, causing by-elections, and independent candidates will have to declare with which party they will align. So far, 221 of 268 contested seats (4 other races had been postponed) have been called, with 47 races to go. End summary. Election Commission "Unofficial Results" ... So Far -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) Pakistan's Election Commission (ECP) continues to post constituency-by-constituency "unofficial results" on its website: www.ecp.gov.pk. The ECP does not anticipate having a full accounting until sometime on February 20. The official results will not be announced for another week. In the meantime, those candidates who have won multiple seats will need to resign from all but one, causing by-elections in the second week of April. How many such seats will open up is still unknown because of the incomplete results (below). ¶3. (C) Also creating uncertainty are the numerous seats won by independents. Some of these candidates may already be aligned with a particular party, usually because they have received campaign financing from that party. However, many are "free radicals," who will have three days, according to ECP Secretary Kunwar Dilshad, from the announcement of official results to declare with which party they will sit. ¶4. (U) As of February 19, 2000 hours (local time): Party: Seats Won Awami National Party (ANP): 10 Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A): 0 Independent (IND): 22 Mutahidda Majlas-e-Amal (MMA): 3 Mutahidda Quami Movement (MQM): 19 National People's Party: 1 Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F): 4 Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N): 59 Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q): 28 Pakistan People's Party (PPP): 74 Pakistan People's Party-Sherpao (PPP-S): 1 TOTAL: 221 Pending: 47 Number of Seats Contested: 268 Number of Elections Postponed: 4 NOTE: These are "unofficial results" from Pakistan's Election Commission. The media are calling more seats, but the counts vary from network to network and have fluctuated throughout the day. PATTERSON