Age, gender, profession: How diverse is the new assembly of Azad Kashmir?

The recent election in Azad Jammu and Kashmir threw up quite a few surprises, and also brought in a new ruling party to govern.

But who are the men and women in the new legislative assembly? And how diverse and representative is it?

Geo.tv looks at the age, profession, gender and educational qualifications of the incoming representatives.

Age

No young politician, therefore aged between 25 – 30 years, has been elected to the legislative assembly of the AJK in 2021. While in 2016, the last time polls were held in the federating unit, 5% young members made it to the assembly.

An overwhelming majority, 95%, who will be sitting in the new House fall within the middle-aged and elderly bracket.

Below is a breakdown:

Education

An estimated 82% of the 2021 members of the legislative assembly have completed their bachelors. This is an increase from 2016 when only 58% had undergraduate degrees.

However, there are no MPhil or PhD holders in the lawmaking body, while only 4% have completed their intermediate and 7% passed their matriculation exams.

Profession

A significant percentage of members, 58%, have businesses in the 2021 legislative assembly. Their percentage was 61% in 2016.

Second most in numbers are lawyers, who make up 18% of the assembly. Their percentage was only 15% in 2016.

Separately, landlords or agriculturists make up 7% of the assembly, compared to 12% in 2016.

Those who identify as “full-time politicians” will comprise 13% of the assembly membership. There were no such politicians in the previous assembly.

However, in the 2021 assembly, no doctor could become a member.

Gender

Six women have made it to the 53-member assembly, of which one was elected on a general seat. The other five have been nominated on reserved seats.