On the basis of 1997 elections, the major political parties in Gwadar district include Balochistan National Movement (BNM) and Balochistan National Party (BNP). Balochistan National Party is a recently incepted party through merger of Balochistan National Movement (Mengal group) and Pakistan National Party (Bizinjo and Lehri groups). This party has won the Balochistan Assembly seat from Gwadar in recently held elections (1997). Other political parties are Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) which do have some public support. The PML has taken the lead in this area in the last National Assembly elections (1997) but this lead was mainly because of its candidate’s personal popularity. Both the major parties have a nationalist political ideology while Pakistan Muslim League and Pakistan People’s Party believe in a federal system of governance.

None of these parties have women wings. However these parties do have a few active women supporters. Students wings of these parties, specially Baloch Students Organisation (BSO), are very much active and also play a role in political activities of their parent organisations. The political parties have exploited the students politics to accomplish their vested interests. The political parties in the district do not have their labour wings but these parties support various workers’ unions in government organisations.

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