Islamabad, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Voting in the election of Pakistan's National Assembly (lower house of parliament) began at 8 a.m. local time on the 8th, and 265 seats in the National Assembly will be elected.
According to the information released by the Election Commission of Pakistan, more than 12.8 billion, with more than 90,000 polling stations set up across the country. About 5,100 candidates will compete for 266 seats in general election, but one seat has been postponed for some reason, and 265 seats will actually be elected. Voting will continue until 5 p.m. on the same day, after which the counting of votes will begin immediately.
On the same day, provincial council elections were held in Khyber Pakhtunkh, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan.
In view of the current tense security situation in Pakistan, the Pakistani security services have deployed about 500,000 security personnel in various locations.
There are currently 336 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan, and members of the National Assembly are eligible for re-election for a five-year term. Of these, 266 seats are elected by universal suffrage, with the highest number of votes from each constituency elected. In addition, the National Assembly has established 60 reserved seats for women and 10 seats for ethnic minorities (non-Muslims), which are allocated proportionally to the number of seats in general elections obtained by each party.