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Islamabad: Pakistan's ruling coalition swept the by-elections held on Thursday to five federal and 23 provincial constituencies, according to unofficial results announced by the election commission on Friday.
More than two dozen people were injured in incidents of election-related violence in the most populous Punjab province, media reports said.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) won three National Assembly seats and two were secured by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) which leads the coalition at the centre.
The PML-N won seven of total the 12 Punjab Assembly seats for which by-polls were held. PPP secured three seats and independent candidates two.
In Sindh, two PPP candidates had already been elected unopposed and the party secured the remaining seat to which election was held.
In North West Frontier Province, out of the seven provincial assembly seats, the PPP, the Awami National Party (ANP) and independents won two each while the PML-N claimed one. Out of three provincial assembly seats in Balochistan, one went to the PPP and two to independent candidates.
Stalemate over justices
Meanwhile, a top UN human rights official called on the Pakistani government yesterday to swiftly resolve the judicial crisis and to ensure that peace deals with militants do not infringe on the rights of women and minorities.
Pakistan's newly elected coalition government has been split by a deep disagreement over the process of restoring dozens of senior judges fired last year in a judicial purge by President Pervez Musharraf.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose party is the junior member of the coalition, pulled his ministers from the Cabinet last month demanding the issue be resolved.
"The current judicial crisis in Pakistan ... risks paralysing the new government's ability to address other critical policy challenges," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said at the end of a two-day visit.
Whatever solution is found should ensure the country has "a free and independent judiciary", she said.
With inputs from agencies
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