Elections were held on 12 November 2009 in Gilgit-Baltistan to elect the first Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly.
Background The region of Gilgit-Baltistan was formerly known as Northern Areas. The Northern Areas were formed by joining Gilgit Agency and Baltistan regions in 1970 but the Northern Areas were ruled directly from Islamabad. In 2009 the Government of Pakistan passed an Autonomy Order known as Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-governance Order, 2009 which was signed by the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari in September 2009.
Parties and candidates 264 candidates out of which 99 from 10 different political parties and 165 independent candidates contested for 24 seats across Gilgit-Baltistan. +PartySeats ContestedPPP23MQM-L20PML-N15PML-Q14GBDA10JUI-F6BNF4ANP3JI2PTI2IND165
Campaign and polling Voting took place on 12 November 2009 on Morning 9 AM to 4 PM without any break. 1022 polling stations were set up across Gilgit-Baltistan out of which 200 polling stations were considered sensitive. 5000 law enforcement personnel was hired for security.
Result The two tables below show the results of the elections. The first table shows the results for the elections across all 24 constituencies, and shows each political party's standing after independents joining different parties and the allotment of reserved seats. The second table shows the winner of each of the 24 constituencies, 6 reserved seats for women, and 3 reserved seats for technocrats. PartySeatsGeneralWomenTechnocratsIndependents joinedTotalPPP1242321JUI(F)21104PML(Q)21003PML(N)20002MQM10011ITP00011IND400 -40Total seats2363032
By constituency ConstituencyWinnerSourceDistrictNameCandidatePartyGilgitGBA-1Raziuddin RizviINDGBA-2Deedar AliINDGBA-3Aftab HaiderPPPGBA-4Muhammad Ali AkhtarPPPGBA-5Mirza HussainPML(Q)GBA-6Wazir BaigPPPSkarduGBA-7Syed Mehdi ShahPPPGBA-8Sheikh Nisar Hussain SarbazPPPGBA-9Wazir Shakeel AhmedPPPGBA-10Wazir HassanPPPGBA-11Syed Mohammad Ali ShahPPPGBA-12Raja Azam Khan AmachaMQMAstoreGBA-13Abdul Hameed KhanINDGBA-14Mohammad NaseerPPPDiamerGBA-15Bashir AhmedPML(Q)GBA-16Janbaz KhanPML(N)GBA-17Rehmat KhaliqJUI(F)GBA-18Gulbar KhanJUI(F)GhizerGBA-19Elections postponed due to death of MQM candidateGBA-20Ali Madad SherPPPGBA-21Muhammad Ayub ShahINDGhancheGBA-22Mohammad JafferPPPGBA-23Maulana Mohammad AbdullahPML(N)GBA-24Mohammad IsmailPPPReserved seatsfor womenSadia DanishPPPGul MeeraPPPShireen FatimaPPPYasmin NazarPPPMehnaz WaliJUI(F)Amina AnsariPML(Q)Reserved seatsfor technocratsMutabiat ShahPPPJamil AhmadPPPMaulana Sarwar ShahJUI(F)
Aftermath The assembly members took oath on 10 December 2009 and Syed Mehdi Shah of PPP became the 1st Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan unopposed. Moreover, Wazir Baig and Jamil Ahmad, both of PPP, were elected as Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
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