Pakistan-administered Kashmir holds scaled-back final phase of elections amid unrest

Islamabad, Pakistan – Voting is under way in the third and final phase of Pakistan-administered Kashmir’s Legislative Assembly elections, but just four of the 11 constituencies originally scheduled to vote are going to the polls due to unrest in the region.

More than 800 polling booths in Bagh and Haveli districts of Poonch division in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), as the region is known, opened at 8am (03:00 GMT) on Monday and will close about 5pm (12:00 GMT). About 460,000 people are registered to vote.

AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, who belongs to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), is defending his seat in Haveli.

In Bagh, two former prime ministers are in the fray – Sardar Tanveer Ilyas of the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party against Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan of the Muslim Conference.

Elections in the remaining seven constituencies, five in Poonch and two in Sudhnoti district, were postponed last week over security concerns. Officials said a new polling date will be announced in the coming days.

The postponement came after weeks of protests by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a local pressure group demanding the abolition of 12 seats in the regional legislature reserved for displaced Kashmiris living elsewhere in Pakistan.

Violence during the JAAC-led protests killed more than 50 people, according to residents and rights groups. The government has not shared an official death toll but said at least seven police and paramilitary personnel have been killed.

The JAAC, which has called for a boycott of the legislative elections, was banned by the authorities in June under “antiterrorism” laws.

The authorities have also banned international media from reporting from the region. Their reporters were told this month to leave and seek clearance from the government before returning to Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Monday’s vote is the last of the three-phase polls for the 53-member Legislative Assembly.

The Mirpur division voted on July 27, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), which governs Pakistan, won nine of its 13 seats. The PPP took four. Polling in the Muzaffarabad division and 12 refugee constituencies across the country took place on August 2 with the PMLN winning 15 seats and the PPP six.

Election authorities recorded a turnout of 46 percent in the first phase and 53 percent in the second – both below the more than 60 percent recorded in 2021 and 2016.

The scaled-back vote reflects months of unrest centred on Poonch division, the JAAC’s stronghold, where an intermittent internet shutdown has stretched beyond 50 days.