Pakistan: 17% local government seats for Islamabad women remain uncontested

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By  India Blooms News Service   Dec 29, 2022

Islamabad: About 17 percent of seats reserved for women nominees in Pakistans Islamabad local government elections did not witness any contest, media reports said on Wednesday.

According to reports, none of the political parties of the country could field a candidate for the seats.

If polls are held on schedule on Dec 31 then at least one-fifth of the reserved seats will remain vacant, Dawn News reported.

It could be attributed to the failure of political parties, women groups, and civil society, Dawn News reported quoting a report, adding that as many as 434 women were contesting elections on 202 seats reserved for them i.e. two each in all union councils.

As opposed to 17 percent, in the 2005 LG elections, less than 1 percent of womens seats had remained vacant.

The report said that out of 434 women nominees, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) fielded the highest number (32 percent) of candidates followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawazs (PML-N) 25 percent share.

PPP nominated 11 candidates, it added.