The politics of Karachi takes place at the municipal, provincial and federal levels of the government. Karachi is a multiethnic, multilingual, multicultural and multireligious metropolitan city. The demographics of Karachi are important as most politics in Karachi is driven by ethnic politics. Wasim Akhtar of the MQM-P is the current mayor, and Arshad Vohra of the MQM-P, now belonging to Pak Sarzameen Party, is the deputy mayor. At a national level, Karachi is also the capital of the province of Sindh, hosting the Provincial Assembly of Sindh and where the political seat of the Government of Sindh is centred.
The demographics of Karachi are important as most politics in Karachi is driven and influenced by ethnic affiliation. The success of the MQM has always been patronised by the fact that city's population is dominated by the Muhajir people who remain loyal to the party, which was originally created and led by Altaf Hussain as a means to fight for the community's rights. Today, the party's following and fan base has declined because of the militancy mindset and aggressive political approach. Pashtuns make up second largest ethnic group in Karachi with 7.0 million pashtuns living in Karachi. Huge Number of Pashtuns live in the city from early 1960s, most of them belong to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and started to migrate to Karachi in the early 1960s during the Ayub Khan dictatorship and were employed as labourers in the city’s widespread construction business. Some of them, including those of Afghan origin, identify with more puritanical and conservative traditions and have been known supporters of ultra-conservative groups. Those who are secular support the left-wing Awami National Party. Simultaneously, some of the Punjabi community supports moderate conservative parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League and the Punjabi Pakhtun Ittehad.
The MQM swept the elections by winning 18 of the 19 National Assembly seats, but the PTI emerged as the second largest party as well as making dents in the MQM's Muhajir vote bank. The PTI accused the MQM of rigging the elections.
2015 Municipal elections
The municipal elections for the 247 union councils and union committees of Karachi are as follows: District West 6 union councils, 46 union committees, District South 31 union councils and committees, Korangi 37 union committees, Malir 32 union councils and 13 union committees and District Central 51 union committees. Apart from election for chairman and vice-chairman of 247 union councils and committees 1520 ward councilors will also be elected, while direct polls will be held for 1235 seats, based upon the discretion of a candidate or group having majority in the panel. The municipal elections where held in Karachi on December 5, 2015 and the most seats in the city were won by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. The MQM won 138, PPP won 25, Jamaat-e-Islami and PTI alliance won only 17 union council seats. Waseem Akhtar was nominated as the next Mayor of Karachi on December 15, 2015.
2018 General Elections
The elections were swept by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf who won 13 out of Karachi's 21 seats in the National Assembly. The previously dominant Muttahida Quami Movement only managed to win 4 seats, and the Mustafa Kamal-led Pak Sarzameen Party did not win any seats. The MQM and PSP claimed the elections were rigged to favour the PTI.
