Pakistani general election, 2008

Pakistani general election, 2008

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All 342 seats to the National Assembly 169 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	44.01 % ( 2.21%)
First party Second party   Leader Yousaf Gillani Nisar Ali Khan Party PPP PML (N) Leader's seat NA-151 Multan NA-52 Rawalpindi Seats won 119 89 Seat change 39 70 Popular vote 10,666,548 6,805,324 Percentage 30.8% 19.7% Swing 7% 3%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Shujaat Hussain Farooq Sattar Party PML (Q) MQM Leader's seat NA-105 Gujarat NA-257 Karachi Seats won 50 25 Seat change 76 8 Popular vote 8,007,218 2,573,795 Percentage 23.1% 7.4% Swing 2.6% 4.3%
Political parties representation in National Assembly.
Prime Minister before election Muhammad Mian Soomro Caretaker government Elected Yousaf Raza Gillani PPP

Muhammad Mian Soomro
Caretaker government

Yousaf Raza Gillani
PPP

General elections were held in Pakistan on 18 February 2008, after being postponed from 8 January 2008. The original date was intended to elect members of the National Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Pakistan.

On 3 November 2007, President and Chief of army staff General Pervez Musharraf enacted a state of emergency; elections were initially postponed indefinitely. However, it was later stated they would be held as planned. On 8 November 2007, Musharraf announced that the election would be held by 15 February 2008, but the election date was changed to occur on or before 9 January 2008. Musharraf also suggested 8 January 2008 as the election date. Following the assassination on Benazir Bhutto of PPP, the Election Commission conducted a meeting and announced that "elections on 8 January were no longer possible and instead, the elections would take place on 18 February 2008."

President General Pervez Musharraf, supported by PML-Q, conceded the defeat of his party and pledged to work with the new Parliament. Around 35.2 million people cast their vote and the voter turnout was 44.01%.By-elections for 28 seats (23 provincial and 5 national) have been delayed numerous times, with most of them now held on 26 June 2008. Results indicated that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML(N)) secured the largest votes in the elections. Due to common mistrust on Pervez Musharraf, the two parties initially formed the coalition government with Yosaf Raza Gillani as Prime Minister of Pakistan. Within week, the PML(N) left the coalition to lead the impeachment movement and to restore judiciary; the PPP instead formed a leftist alliance, containing MQM, ANP, and JUI(F).