Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir, two leading rights activists associated with the ethnic Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM), won in their constituencies in north-western Pakistan. Both left-leaning candidates will enter parliament after Dawar secured 16,496 votes in Wednesday's election, while Ali Wazir received 23,530 votes. Both candidates were contesting the elections independently, as the newly founded PTM says it is an apolitical movement.
"We welcome their win," Manzoor Pashteen, chairman of the PTM, told dpa of Dawar and Wazi.
"However, PTM remains a rights-based, non-political movement without any aims to get into the parliament.
"I wish them good luck and hope they do well for the people of the region," Pashteen added. The Pashtun Protection Movement emerged earlier this year after the extrajudicial murder of an ethnic Pashtun man in Karachi. Veteran politician and analyst Afrasiab Khattak believed it was a significant moment. "It's a very encouraging development for the region."
"People have spoken and they have voted for their rights, ignoring all the propaganda against them," he said.