Pakistan’s ruling party leads in Kashmir vote despite boycott call by banned group

Motorcyclists navigate through a road barricaded with concrete blocks set up by supporters of the outlawed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) during a protest demanding greater political rights and the abolition of 12 legislative refugee seats, in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026.

Candidates backed by twice-elected former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party have won 24 of the 34 seats decided in the first two phases of voting, the election commission, said Wednesday.

(Image credit: M.D. Mughal)