Voting Opens in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan High-Stakes Election

(MENAFN) Long queues formed outside polling stations across Pakistan's semi-autonomous Gilgit-Baltistan region on Sunday as residents turned out to elect a new government for a five-year term, with local broadcasters broadcasting live footage of voters gathered in the regional capital, Gilgit, and beyond.

Polls opened at 8:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) and are scheduled to close at 5:00 p.m. (1200 GMT).

The electoral contest is fierce: 396 candidates are vying for 24 directly elected seats in the regional Legislative Assembly. Of those, 266 are running as independents, while 130 represent a mix of national, regional, and religio-political parties, according to figures released by the regional election commission. The full assembly comprises 33 seats, with the remaining nine allocated on a proportional basis — reserved for women and political appointees.

Altogether, 963,034 registered voters are eligible to cast their ballots.

The race is expected to be tightly contested among three major political forces: the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif; the center-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the political legacy of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; and a bloc of independent candidates operating under the banner of the main opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Authorities have deployed thousands of police officers and paramilitary troops throughout the mountainous region — which shares a border with China — in a sweeping security operation aimed at ensuring order throughout election day.

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