It is a matter of record that defeated political parties in Pakistan have never formally conceded loss by acknowledging that they might not have been able to persuade or entice voters. Our political leaders across the spectrum prefer to hide behind rigging charges rather than drawing lessons from failure and creating a better plan for the future. The opposition parties’ claims that the PPP’s win was rigged and manipulated do not appear to be true. This win, in my opinion, is not the consequence of widespread, institutionalized rigging. Being the reigning party was advantageous for the PPP. Another factor is that the PPP controls practically all of Sindh’s political landscape.
Women voters were crucial to the PPP’s success. The PPP has created a definite advantage among female voters as a result of the social programs it sponsored for rural women in Sindh. In terms of offering health care to residents of rural Sindh, the PPP administration has done well. To offer free medical services, numerous new hospitals have been built. Larkana, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Naushehro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, and Tharparkar were among the 14 districts of Sindh that voted in the local government elections on June 26. Unfortunately, violence and low voter turnout tainted the elections.
Out of more than 9,000 polling places, the violence disrupted voting at 30 of them, claimed two valuable lives, and injured close to a dozen more. Due to poor administration and incorrect printing of election symbols on ballots, voting was also delayed at nearly 40 polling places. Although the precise number of voters is not yet known, early projections point to a lower turnout. The high temperatures, voter indifference, and political parties’ failure to mobilize voters will all have played a role in poor participation. The PPP candidates dominated the first round of local government elections, as was already mentioned. Unofficial figures show that the PPP has won more than 5,500 of the 6,277 seats.
Over 85% of the available seats are here. Only 15% of the seats were won by the opposition parties and independents combined. The ruling party in Sindh holds more than 90% of the seats in various districts. PPP candidates won handily in a number of municipal and town committee elections. In important metropolitan areas like Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Larkana, Shikarpur, Shaheed Benazir Abad (Nawab Shah), and Sukkur, the party has also made significant gains.
Looking at the numbers, the PPP won 274 out of 354 seats in municipal committees and 860 out of 946 local government delegates who were elected without opposition in 14 districts. Together with independent candidates, opposition parties were able to secure 80 seats.
