Voters went to the polls Monday in the final phase of elections for the legislative assembly in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, following weeks of violent protests and clashes with security forces that overshadowed campaigning in the disputed Himalayan region.

Men and women began lining up early at polling stations in Poonch district, where four assembly seats are being contested.

Raja Shakeel, a spokesperson for the regional election commission, said voting was underway in the four constituencies despite a boycott call by the outlawed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which urged residents not to participate in the election.

Pakistan’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has already secured a majority and is expected to form the regional government for the first time in a decade after winning 24 of the 34 seats decided in the first two phases.

Security was tightened around polling stations as voters cast ballots to elect representatives in Kashmir, which is divided between Pakistan and India.

Both countries claim the Himalayan region in its entirety and have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

Several prominent politicians are contesting in the latest round, including regional Prime Minister Faisal Rathore, who is seeking a seat from Haveli. Former Prime Ministers Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan and Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan, as well as Mushtaq Minhas, a senior vice president of the PML-N, are also among the candidates.

Rana Sanaullah, a political affairs adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, predicted that the PML-N would secure a two-thirds majority and form the next government in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

A PML-N victory would return the party to power in the region after a decade.

Election officials said the voting for remaining seats was being conducted in phases because of security concerns, with the electoral process expected to be completed this month. The newly elected lawmakers will then take oath and elect the region’s next prime minister.

The election campaign has been overshadowed by weeks of protests led by the JAAC, which has called for a boycott of the vote. The regional government recently banned the group, citing security and public-order concerns.

The dispute between the JAAC and the regional government centres on 12 legislative seats reserved for people displaced from Indian-controlled Kashmir since the end of British colonial rule.

The JAAC argues that the arrangement gives disproportionate political influence to people living outside Pakistan-administered Kashmir and has demanded that the reserved seats be abolished.

The seats were created to provide political representation to people displaced from Indian-controlled Kashmir who settled elsewhere in Pakistan because Pakistan-administered Kashmir lacked the capacity to accommodate them.

The JAAC, formed in 2023, has also demanded greater political rights for people in the region. The government says it has accepted 36 of the group’s 38 demands, while maintaining that the dispute over the reserved seats can be resolved only by the regional assembly.