First10GeneralElectionsofPakistan August2013

Part 1: A Narrative of
Pakistan's 10 General Elections:

1970-2013
Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi
P I L D AT
The First 10 General Elections of Pakistan
A Story of Pakistan's Transition from Democracy Above Rule of Law to Democracy Under Rule of Law: 1970-2013
August 2013
The 1970 Election was replaced with the principle of representation on

the basis of population. As East Pakistan had more
The first direct general election at the federal level for the population than the combined population of four
National Assembly was held on December 7, 1970. The provinces of West Pakistan, the former got more than
direct provincial elections were held ten days later on half seats in the National Assembly for the first time.
December 17, 1970. The election campaign clearly
showed that East Pakistan was drifting towards The Competing Players
separatism. The issues raised in the run up to the elections
were so different in East Pakistan and West Pakistan that In East Pakistan, the leading political party was the Awami
their pulling together in one political direction appeared League led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman that dominated the
impossible, although a large number of people continued election campaign there. In the four provinces of West
to think that when the emotions of election-campaign Pakistan the leading political party was the Pakistan
subside, the leaders from the two wings of Pakistan would People's Party (PPP) led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Other
evolve some arrangement for working together as Pakistan. parties contesting the election included National Awami
Party-Wali, Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) and three
Election Backdrop factions of the Pakistan Muslim League: Council,
Convention and Qayyum. The Islamic parties in the
General Yahya Khan, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), assumed electoral fray were the Jamaat-i-Islami, Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-
power on March 25, 1969 after General Ayub Khan Islam (JUI), and Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP). Several
resigned in the face of mass protest movement. The new other small parties also competed in the election in
General abrogated the 1962 Constitution and enforced addition to independent candidates.
martial law with a promise to hold elections and return
power to elected representatives. Key Issues
Three important decisions were made by the military The issues highlighted by the political parties in the course
government of General Yahya Khan in 1970 in relations to of electioneering were not identical in East and West
the general election. Pakistan. In East Pakistan, the Awami League demanded
maximum autonomy for East Pakistan and complained
1. The Legal Framework Order was issued on March 30, about the exploitation of resources of East Pakistan by the
1970 which provided a legal basis for the General Federal Government dominated by West Pakistani political
Election and laid down that the National Assembly leaders and the military. The Awami League had put
would frame the constitution within 120 days of its forward a Six-point Formula to reshape the relations
first session and after that period the National between East Pakistan and West Pakistan which was
Assembly would dissolve automatically. It laid down viewed in West Pakistan by good number of politically
the basic principles that had to be kept in view for active circles as a veiled agenda for separatism.
framing the constitution and that the constitution Describing East Pakistan as a colony of West Pakistan, the
passed by the National Assembly must be Awami League blamed West Pakistani civil and military
authenticated by the President/Chief Martial Law leadership for the problems of the people of East Pakistan.
Administrator.
2. The integrated province of West Pakistan, established Originally the National Assembly election was planned for
in October 1955, was abolished and four provinces in October 1970. East Pakistan was hit by a devastating
West Pakistan were revived: Punjab, Sindh, NWFP cyclone a few weeks before the elections that led to the
(Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) and Balochistan on July 1, postponement of the election date to December 7. The
1970. Balochistan got the status of a full province Awami League played up the devastation caused by the
whereas other provinces were revived. There was no cyclone to build up emotional frenzy against West Pakistan.
change in the status of FATA which continued to be
governed by the President through the Governor of In West Pakistan, the divide between the political right and
NWFP (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa). political left was noticeable. The PPP led the left-of-centre
3. The principle of parity for representation for East agenda with the projection of Islamic Socialism,
Pakistan and West Pakistan in the National Assembly nationalization of major private sector industry, land
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reforms and better facilities to the labour and peasants. Balochistan: 40.6 per cent.
The NAP focused on issues pertaining to NWFP (Khyber-
Pakhtunkhwa). Islamic political parties vehemently Post-Election Political Situation/Government
opposed Bhutto's socialistic economic and social agenda Formation
and emphasized the need of an Islamic political order that
ensured social justice and economic opportunities. The election result showed the divergent disposition of two
Different factions of the Pakistan Muslim League adopted a wings of Pakistan. In East Pakistan, the Awami League with
middle course between socialistic and Islamic agendas, a simple majority in the National Assembly was insistent
leaning more towards the latter. on making the constitution strictly in accordance with the
Six-point formula. Z.A Bhutto who led the largest party
In East Pakistan, the election campaign was dominated by from West Pakistan wanted some changes in at least two
maximum autonomy based on Six-point agenda which points.
bordered on separatism. Some of the left-groups talked of
independence but the Awami League officially avoided The military government led by General Yahya Khan had
taking such a position in the election campaign. In West strong reservations on handing over power to Sheikh
Pakistan, the focus was on economic issues and it became Mujibur Rahman without a major revision of the Six-point
more of a struggle between the left-of-centre Socialistic Formula. As Mujibur Rahman, Z.A. Bhutto and Yahya Khan
economy versus the right-wing socio-economic could not agree on a framework of constitutional and
conservatism and Islam-based political and economic political arrangements, Yahya Khan postponed the session
order. of the Assembly.
Election Results The Awami League challenged this decision by massive

and violent street protests. As the writ of the State had
Political polarization on East-West Pakistan relations and become ineffective in Dhaka and some other places, the
the economy reflected clearly in the election results. Two military government decided to launch a major security
divergent trends were noticeable in East Pakistan and West operation on March 25, 1971 against the Awami League.
Pakistan. Out of 300 general seats, 162 were allocated to This began the civil strife in East Pakistan with the Awami
East Pakistan. The Awami League won 160 seats, giving it League as its main target.
a clear majority in the National Assembly. All the seven
additional seats for women were also won by the Awami In September, 76 elected members of the Awami League
League, giving it 167 seats of 313 seats (300 general, 13 were disqualified. Two had died. The military government
women seats). Out of the two seats lost by the Awami decided to hold by-election to 78 seats. 63 were elected
League, one was won by the candidate belonging to the uncontested and the election to 15 seats was to be held.
PDP and the other went to an independent candidate. Before this could happen, the security situation in East
Pakistan deteriorated and, on November 21, 1971 Indian
Out of 138 general seats allocated to West Pakistan, the troops launched a full-fledged attack on East Pakistan. Its
PPP won 81 seats. Its breakdown was Punjab 62, Sindh troops moved into East Pakistan to hold on to territory. On
18, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 1, Balochistan Nill. The PML- December 3, the war broke out on West-Pakistan India
Qayyum was second largest party with 9 seats (NWFP 7, border, turning it into a total war between India and
Punjab 1 Sindh 1), 7 seats each were won by the PML- Pakistan on both sides of Pakistan.
Council, JUI and JUP. The NAP (Wali) won 6 seats and the
Jamaat-i-Islami got 4 seats. The PML-Convention got 2 Pakistan lost the November-December war to India and
seats and 15 were elected as independents in the Pakistani troops surrendered to India in East Pakistan on
provinces in West Pakistan. December 16. The cease-fire on West Pakistan-India
border was enforced on December 17. Three days later, on
The overall voter turn-out was 59.8 per cent. December 20, General Yahya Khan resigned and power
was handed over to Bhutto who headed the first civilian
The provincial break-up of voter's turnout was East government after the end of the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
Pakistan: 56.9 per cent; Punjab: 68.7 per cent; Sindh: 60.1
per cent; Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa: 48.4 per cent;
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The 1977 Election JUI, JUP and KT. The Rightist conservatives were the PML-
Pagaro, PDP, TI and AKMC. The NDP was a successor to
The 1977 general election can be described as an electoral defunct NAP and could be described as a party with left of
exercise in which both the PPP government and the center-leftist orientations. Three PNA parties –PDP, KT and
opposition lost to the military. Military assumed power on AKMC – had very little electoral support.
July 5, 1977 after sustained opposition agitation against
what they described as the massive rigging of the elections The PML-Qayyum contested elections separately. There
by the PPP government. were a number of small parties that fielded the candidates.
The real contest was between the ruling PPP and the PNA.
Election Backdrop
Key Issues
The 1973 Constitution was enforced on August 14, 1973,
which entitled the National Assembly elected in December The PPP hoped to sail through the election on the basis of
1970 and began to function in January 1972, to continue its performance. It highlighted its socio-economic policies,
functioning for five years from the date of enforcement of especially nationalization of various industries, land
the 1973 Constitution. The national and provincial reforms and labour reforms. It announced the 2nd
assemblies could last till August 14, 1977. instalment of land reforms in January 1977 which could
not be implemented due to the elections and the
The opposition wanted fresh elections in the immediate subsequent political turmoil. The Land reforms were
aftermath of the enforcement of the new constitution. The introduced first by the Bhutto government in March 1972.
PPP government led by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto It also played up its success in foreign policy domain,
rejected this demand. However, it decided on January 10, especially the return of Pakistan Prisoners of the 1971 War
1977 to dissolve the national and provincial assemblies from India, improved relations with the Islamic world,
and hold new election on March 7 for the National especially the holding of the 2nd Islamic Summit
Assemblies and on March 10 for the Provincial Assemblies. Conference at Lahore in February 1974.
The Competing Player The PNA was extremely critical of the PPP government's
economic policies, especially the declining performance
of the nationalized industry and nationalization of private
The ruling party, the PPP, was contesting the election to
sector educational institutions. They also pointed out to
hold on to power and its key leaders were confident that
authoritarian approach towards political dissent and
they could win the election on the basis of their
imposition of restriction on civil liberties, especially
performance.
periodic curbs on the right-wing opposition press. They
also talked of Islamic political and economic order in place
The major opposition was a combination of nine political
of what they described as corrupt and oppressive
parties under the rubric of Pakistan National Alliance (PNA).
governance by the PPP. At times the issues were cast in
This alliance came into existence soon after the PPP
terms of Islam versus socialism and personalized
government's decision to hold new election which
dictatorial rule.
surprised most political observers because they did not
expect the opposition to create a joint forum for contesting
election. The nine parties in the PNA were: Tehrik-i-Istiqlal Election Results
(TI), Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam Mufti
(JUI), Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP), Pakistan Muslim There were 200 general seats, 10 reserved seats for
League Pagaro Group (PML-Pagaro), National Democratic women and 6 reserved seats for non-Muslims. Total: 216.
Party (NDP), Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP), Khaksar
Tehrik (KT), and Azad Kashmir Muslim Conference It was a closely contested election and the PNA expected to
(AKMC). perform well in the pools. However, the results showed a
landslide victory for the PPP which surprised most political
The PNA was dominated by Right wing conservative and observers. At least 19 PPP candidates returned
Islamic parties. The Islam oriented parties included the JI, unopposed. It won 151 general seats. The PNA secured
only 36 seats. The PML-Qayyum got one seat and 8 were
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elected as independents. The voters' turn-out was 64.1 elections. They were joined by other section of population
percent. like students, journalists and professional groups,
especially lawyers. It developed a wide support base
The PNA questioned the legitimacy of these results and which surprised the PPP that believed that they had
boycotted the provincial election held on March 10, 1977. genuinely won the election.
Po s t - E l e c t i o n S i t u a t i o n / G o v e r n m e n t Initially the PPP government used the coercive state

apparatus to curb the protest. It also employed the army
Formation personnel to control the situation and imposed martial law
in Karachi, Hyderabad and Lahore which did not help. In
The triumph of the PPP in the 1977 general elections was fact, the PPP government lost the political initiative to the
short-lived. The PNA accused the government of massive military.
rigging of the polls which gave such an overriding victory
to the PPP. The media reported a large number of The PPP government initiated a dialogue with the PNA and
irregularities, use of official resources and pressure and agreed to hold new elections. However, the PPP
ballot-box snatching. The PPP government dismissed this government and the PNA pursued dialogue at very slow
criticism as the manifestation of the PNA's inability to pace and the latter kept the pressure of street agitation on
accept its defeat in the poll. The PNA decided to boycott the the government. They agreed to hold new election but the
provincial election where the PPP got a walkover with differences on how these elections would be conducted
electoral successes all over. and how could fair and free elections be ensured. Some of
the PNA leaders made no secret of their desire that the
On March 11, a day after the elections to the provincial military should remove the Bhutto government and then
assemblies, a nationwide protest was observed hold the elections.
successfully on the appeal of the PNA which emboldened
them to take on the PPP. In the late evening on July 4, the Army Chief General Zia-ul-
Haq attended the cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister
The PNA's anti-PPP movement began as a protest against house and returned to the Army headquarters to give final
massive rigging in the National Assembly elections. touches to the plan to remove the civilian government. In
However, within two weeks it began to be dominated by the very early hours of July 5, he moved the troops and
Islamic parties and their activists with a demand to enforce removed the PPP government.
the 'Nizam-e-Mustafa” (Islamic Political order of the Holy
Prophet) in place of the PPP initiated socialistic un-Islamic The imposition of martial law and suspension of the 1973
political system. Constitution was peaceful and orderly and most PNA
leaders and activists welcomed the removal of the PPP
The Nizam-i-Mustafa slogan meant different things to government.
different people: for religious or thodox and
fundamentalists it meant the introduction of their religio-
political views in the governmental structure that gave
them an effective role in state affairs. For lawyers,
journalists and other political activists it was charter for
restoration of their civilian and political rights that the PPP
government curbed gradually over the years. The business
and trading community thought they could get rid of the
PPP's socialistic policies.
The major support for this movement came from the

middle-level business and trading community that is
predominantly religiously conservative and detested the
socialist orientation of the PPP, Islamic seminaries whose
students were active in the protest movement and the PNA
parties that were angry because of malpractices in the
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The 1985 Election c. The political parties must publish a political

manifesto;
This was the second election where political parties were d. All political parties will hold internal elections annually
not allowed to participate. The candidate contested the for their offices; and
election in their individual capacity. The first partyless e. Submit a list of office-bearers and ordinary members
election to the National Assembly was held in 1962 when to the Election Commission.
Ayub Khan's military government held the elections to
civilianize of military rule. However, this was indirect The registration of political parties could be declined if
election because the national and provincial assemblies these conditions were not fulfilled to the satisfaction of the
were elected by the electoral-college comprising the Election Commission.
elected members of Basic Democracy.
Soon afterwards, the military regime decided to hold local
In February 1985, the military government of General Zia- bodies election on non-party basis before the general
ul-Haq held direct election but excluded the political parties election was held. Most political parties took strong
from the electoral process. Like the 1962 election, by the exception to the new rules for political parties and the
military government of Ayub Khan, the February 1985 holding of local bodies election prior to general election.
general election meant to civilianize military rule. The military government rejected the objections by
political parties.
Election Backdrop The military government went ahead with local bodies'
election in September 1979. Though the local bodies were
General Zia-ul-Haq assumed political power on July 5, held on non-party basis, a large number of people with
1977 by overthrowing the PPP government led by Zulfikar political affiliation got elected in their individual capacity.
Ali Bhutto. He made a categorical undertaking on the This perturbed the military government which decided to
assumption of power to hold new election within 90 days postpone the general election on the ground that the time
and hand over power to the elected government. was not suitable for holding election and additional
restrictions were imposed on political parties and their
It was not long that the military government began to waver activities.
from its commitment to hold election. The military
government postponed the election and initiated the In March 1981, General Zia-ul-Haq issued a Provisional
accountability of the ousted civilian government and Constitutional Order (PCO) to replace what was left of the
Islamization of politics and society. It cultivated several partly-suspended 1973 Constitution. In January 1982, he
groups in the political right and Islamic orthodox and inaugurated an all-nominated 228 members Federal
fundamentalist groups to mobilize support of the military Council (Majlis-i-Shoora) with advisory powers on
regime in order to undercut the support of the PPP and legislation and policies.
strengthen the support base of the military government.
While addressing the Federal Council on August 12, 1983,
After the Supreme Court gave death sentence to Z.A. General Zia-ul-Haq announced that he would hold national
Bhutto in March 1979, a new date of November 17 and 20, election and transfer power to the elected representatives
1979 were designated for the general election. Soon by March 23, 1985.
afterwards General Zia-ul-Haq engaged in political
engineering to keep the adversarial political forces under In August 1984, General Zia-ul-Haq declared that he might
pressure and secure his military regime. He amended the like to continue as President after the general election. In
Political Parties Act, 1962, to put new restrictions on October 1984, he declared that power would be handed
political parties. The amendments included: over to the elected representatives only if they guaranteed
that the Islamization introduced by his government would
a. All political parties must register with the Election continue. A week later he announced that he planned to
Commission; “share” rather than “transfer” power to the elected
b. All political parties must submit an annual statement representatives.
of income and expenditure with the Election
Commission for scrutiny; General Zia-ul-Haq secured his position as the President
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by holding a hurriedly called referendum on December 19, assemblies. A large number of candidates were political
1984 which did not seek popular endorsement for General non-entities who wanted to take a chance because political
Zia-ul-Haq to continue as the President for next five years. parties could not put up known and established leaders.
Rather, the referendum sought the approval of the people About one-quarter candidates were those who made lot of
for his Islamization policy and introduction of money during the last decade in manpower export to the
representative process in Pakistan. The referendum law Middle East, real-estate developers and government-
described as a positive vote on these issues as an contactors and middle-ranking traders. The candidates
endorsement of General Zia-ul-Haq to serve as an elected were also fielded by feudal and tribal families and religious
President for the commencement of the elected leaders who could not stay aloof from local-level politics.
government after the general election. The official results All politically ambitious people who had money to spend
showed that 97.71 per cent voters supported the and enjoyed some support at the local level tried their luck
proposition on Islamization and democratization. The in the election.
official voter turn-out was 62.15 per cent.
Key Issues
After securing the political future of General Zia-ul-Haq, the
military government decided to hold general election on The election campaign was strictly regulated by the
February 25 and 28, 1985 for National Assembly and military authorities with a ban on public rallies and
Provincial Assemblies respectively. processions. They could hold small meetings in walled
compounds. Candidates hardly discussed national level
The principle of separate electorate was applied for the domestic political and economic issue. The same can be
elections whereby the Muslim and non-Muslim voted said about foreign policy and national security issues
separately for the voters of their religion. All previous which did not figure in the election campaign.
national level direct and indirect elections were held on
joint-electorate basis. The issues the candidates raised were similar to those
raised in local bodies election relating to local and
The Competing Players constituency related affairs, i.e. construction or
improvement of roads and street, better sanitation, street
Political parties were banned from participating in the lights, setting up of new schools and colleges in the
election. The major left-oriented coalition of political constituency, health and sanitation facilities. Some of them
parties, Movement for the Restoration of Democracy vowed to fight against corruption and nepotism and
(MRD), established clandestinely in February 1981, led by improve job prospects for youth. They also promised to
the PPP, rejected the presidential referendum and the plan build houses for homeless and provide better civic
for the election before the dates were fixed for polling. The facilities to “katchi abadis” (shanty localities).
PPP and most other parties of the MRD refused to register
them with the Election Commission as prescribed by the Most candidates highlighted their personal piety, devotion
amendments in the Political Parties Act by the military to Islam and regular performance of religious rites. One
government. candidate in Lahore declared that he had no manifesto
other than the fear of God and love of the Holy Prophet.
Though the political parties could not formally take part in
the election, many people with known political affiliation at The absence of nationwide political and socio-economic
the local level contested the election in their individual themes and broad-based political alignments increased
capacity. Some political parties, especially the PML- the role of parochial identities based on ethnicity, language,
Pagaro and the Jamaat-i-Islami, quietly supported their tribal identities, local community or “baradari” and
favourite candidates. Islamic-sect. These trends intensified social divisions and
caused greater fragmentation of the political and social
The absence of political parties from the election process processes. This further weakened political parties that
resulted in the proliferation of candidates. Over 1400 were already facing restrictions on their activities. Ethnic
persons filed nomination papers for 207 seats reserved for and Islamic-sectarian based groups gained strength in
Muslims. Around 4000 nomination papers were filed for Pakistan in the 1980 because of the conscious efforts of
460 seats reserved for Muslims in four provincial the military government to weaken and undermine political
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parties and alignment that had nationwide standing. It may be mentioned that the changes made in the 1973
Instead, local, ethnic and Islamic-sectarian identities and Constitution by the RCO were adopted by the Parliament as
organization entered the political and social space created 8th constitutional amendment with some changes in
by the military government's policy of exclusion of October-November 1985.
nationwide political parties and leaders.
The government also made changes in the Political Parties
Election Results Act, 1962, allowing the political parties to function from
January 1986. However, a cumbersome process was
The party-less election enabled a good number of new announced for the political parties to register with the
comers to enter the National Assembly and the Provincial Election Commission for functioning as a legal entity. It
Assemblies. However, majority of the members elected to was a couple of months later that some political parties
the National Assembly had political affiliation in the past, began to register while others, including the PPP, refused to
although most of them were not active since the military register. Various personal and like-minded groups that had
came to power. emerged in the two houses of the Parliament got merged
into political parties in 1986.
The well-known landed families of the Punjab, Sindh and
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal chiefs in Balochistan
were able to enter the elected legislative body in larger
number than was the case in the past. In urban areas, the
candidates with affluent background, especially from
business and trading community got elected.
In many instances the candidates with known close

affiliations with the military government lost. Those who
lost the election included five federal ministers, one
minister of state and two advisors of General Zia-ul-Haq.
Six provincial ministers also lost. Forty-nine out of 104
members of the Federal Council that contested the
elections did not win. The voter turn-out for the National
Assembly was 53.7 percent.
Po s t - E l e c t i o n S i t u a t i o n / G o v e r n m e n t
Formation
On March 2, 1985, General Zia-ul-Haq issued the Revival

of the Constitution Order (RCO) that amended or
substituted 57 articles, added 6 articles and deleted 2
articles in the original 1973 Constitution to strengthen his
role after the withdrawal of martial law.
On March 23, the joint session of the Parliament was held

and Zia-ul-Haq took oath as the elected President for five
years (1985-1990). He handpicked Muhammad Khan
Junejo, a feudal from Sindh who was out of active politics
but had affiliations with the PML-Pagaro. The provincial
Chief Ministers were selected by military governors of
provinces in consultation with Zia-ul-Haq. However,
martial law was not lifted until December 30, 1985, when
the amended 1973 Constitution became fully operative.
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The 1988 Election The Competing Players
General Zia-ul-Haq died in an air crash on August 17, 1988 In addition to the 9 party electoral alliance, 25 political
that brought an end to his rule that began on July 5, 1977. parties fielded candidates. There were some independent
These were the first post-Zia elections. The National candidates also. The major contest was between the PPP
Assembly election were held on November 16, 1988 and and the 9 rightwing-Islamist party alliance, Islami
the election to the Provincial Assemblies was held on Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) that viewed each other as the main
November 19. Like 1985, the 1988 election was also held rivals.
on the basis of separate electorate wherein the Muslim
voters elected Muslim members and non-Muslim voters The IJI, established in October 1988 included Pakistan
elected members to reserved seats for non-Muslims. Muslim League (PML), Jamaat-i-Islami, National People's
Party, Jamiat-i-Ulema-e-Islam (one faction), Nizam-e-
Election Backdrop Mustafa Group, Markazi Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadith (Lakhvi
Group), Jamiat-e-Mashaik Pakistan, Azad Group and
President General Zia-ul-Haq dissolved the National Hizbullah Jihad. The IJI was dominated by the PML and it
Assembly, dismissed the Government of Prime Minister was created to avoid their candidates competing with one
Muhammad Khan Junejo and assumed all powers on May another. The last three of the above named political parties
29, 1988 because he felt that his government had started did not have any known electoral standing.
autonomous of him in domestic and foreign policy domain.
The Army troops took control of important government Several political parties contested the election while
buildings and installations, including the Prime Minister staying away both from the PPP and the IJI. Some of these
house, radio and TV station. He blamed the Junejo were Jamiat-e—Ulema-e-Islam (Fazlur Rahman), Jamiat-
government of the slowing down of Islamization process, e-Ulema-e-Pakistan (Noorani), National Democratic Party,
failure to maintain law and order and rampant corruption the ANP, Tehriq-i-Istiqlal, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party,
and deterioration of public morality. He also announced Pakistan Democratic Party, Jamhoori Witan Party, PNP, the
that new election would be held to the National Assembly MQM and others.
and Provincial Assemblies. On July 20, the election dates
were fixed as November 16 and 19 for National Assembly The military returned to the barracks with the withdrawal of
and Provincial Assemblies respectively. While he toyed martial law on December 30, 1985 but it continued to wield
with the idea of holding another party-less election, he died influence because General Zia-ul-Haq continued to serve
in an aircraft crash on August 17. Ghulum Ishaq Khan, as the Army Chief while holding the office of the President.
Chairman of the Senate, took over as the Acting President After his death on August 17, 1988, General Mirza Aslam
and General Mirza Aslam Beg, Vice Chief of Army Staff, Beg assumed the command of the Army. The new Army
assumed the post of the Chief of Arm Staff (COAS). The Chief and his senior commander supported the holding of
new Army Chief and other senior commanders assured the election but they decided to pursue political agenda from
Acting President of full support for holding the election on the sidelines. The Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) served as
the already announced date. the main instrument to manipulate the electoral process.
In June 1988, the Supreme Court rejected the rules and In February 1993, the Army Chief General Mirza Aslam Beg
procedures for registration of political parties, as admitted that in October 1988 when the Supreme Court
announced in 1986, thereby abolishing the distinction was hearing the appeal in connection with the dissolution
between registered and unregistered political parties. In of the National Assembly, he sent a message to the
September the Punjab High Court declared that the Supreme Court through an intermediary not to restore the
dissolution of the National Assembly by General Zia-ul-Haq National Assembly because its new election had been
on May 29 was illegal but refused to revive it and the prime scheduled. The Supreme Court upheld the Lahore High
minister on the ground that new elections had been Court decision not to restore the National Assembly.
announced. This judgment was upheld by the Supreme
Court in the first week of October. Within a few days of this The Army authorities realized through their intelligence
judgment, the Supreme Court directed the federal sources that the PPP might get majority seats in the
government to hold all elections on party basis. election if the political parties opposed to it remained
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divided and competed with one another for votes. The ISI turnout from the 1985 election.
was given the task of reducing the political edge of the PPP
by balancing the political situation. It engaged in two inter- No political party got majority in the National Assembly.
related activities. First, it brought together 8 political The PPP emerged as the single largest party with 93 seats.
parties with political right wing and Islamic orientations The IJI got 54 seats. The independents were the third
with the PML in an electoral alliance, the IJI. The ISI largest group with 27 seats. The MQM candidates did not
contrived this alliance to balance off the chances of the use the party label and 13 were elected from Karachi and
PPP getting a majority. Second, in the Punjab, some of its Hyderabad.
personnel worked closely with the IJI in pursuing election
campaign, especially targeting the PPP and its leaders with In Sindh Provincial Assembly, the PPP got a clear majority
sharp and personal criticism. but one got a clear majority in the Provincial Assemblies of
other provinces. In the Punjab, the IJI was the single largest
party. The results showed that the PPP continued to
Key Issues command strong support even after facing the wrath of
General Zia's military government.
This was the first general election the PPP participated in
since 1977 and it highlighted the Z.A. Bhutto's legacy and
made emotional appeals for vote by pointing out to its Po s t - E l e c t i o n S i t u a t i o n / G o v e r n m e n t
sufferings under the military government of General Zia-ul- Formation
Haq, including the execution of Bhutto, sufferings of other
PPP leaders and activists, especially Nusrat and Benazir The single largest party, the PPP, created a post-election
Bhutto. The PPP was dominated by Benazir Bhutto who coalition at the federal level with the MQM, the ANP and
returned to Pakistan from self-imposed exile to engage in independent members. The PPP leader, Benazir Bhutto
politics in April 1986 and took the command of the party. was installed as the Prime Minister on December 2, 1988
She led the party in the election, emphasizing the party's on a joint initiative of the Acting President Ghulam Ishaq
focus on socio-economic development, education and Khan and the Army Chief, General Aslam Beg. Benazir
health care as well as protection and advancement of the Bhutto had a meeting with General Aslam Beg before
interests and welfare of the common people. assuming the office of prime minister. She is said to have
made three commitments to assume the office which
The IJI's agenda for political change was not decisively included election of Acting President Ghulam Ishaq Khan
different from the PPP on socio-economic development as the President, retention of Lt. General Yaqub Ali Khan as
and welfare of the common people. However, there was the Foreign Minister, and finally no unilateral reduction in
greater emphasis on continuation of Islamisation of the the defence budget. On December 13, Ghulam Ishaq Khan
polity from the Zia and the subsequent years. was elected President for five years with the support of the
ruling coalition.
The focus of the election campaign was not on issues but
on personalities and an attempt on the part of the PPP and Benazir Bhutto faced an uphill task of keeping the coalition
the IJI to somehow humble each other in the election. It intact. The IJI and some Islamic parties targeted the PPP
appeared to be a personalized fight between the pro-Zia and its allies for neglect of Islam and the overall law and
PML dominated IJI and the PPP that detested the Zia legacy. order situation. The IJI had formed the provincial
It was for the first time that the major political parties hired government in the Punjab under Muhammad Nawaz Sharif
professional media organization to manage election and the Punjab Government and the Federal engaged in
bitter political conflict in 1988-1990 that adversely
campaign. There was a big personality oriented negative
affected the performance of both governments. It
campaign against political leaders. The two Bhutto ladies
intensified the conflict between the IJI and the People's
(Nusrat and Benazir) were target of strong negative
Party that began in the course of the campaign for the 1988
propaganda.
elections. An unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the Benazir
Bhutto government was made by the IJI and others by a
Election Results vote of no-confidence in October-November 1989. The ISI
was said to be involved in this attempt. The military also
The Voter turnout for the National Assembly election was kept this government under pressure and strains
42.7 per cent. This was a noticeable decline of voter developed in their relations periodically.
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The 1990 Election competed with each other in the 1988 elections.
The issues and political rivalries involved in the 1990 The PPP joined with the PML (Qasim), Tehrik-i-Istaqlal,
election were very similar to the 1988 election. The PPP and Therik-e-Nafaze Fiqah-e-Jafaria to establish an
and the IJI parties were the main rivals in the electoral electoral alliance called Pakistan Democratic Alliance
competition in 1990. (PDA). These partners had very limited electoral support.
The PDA and the PPP were often used synonymously
Election Backdrop The IJI established on the eve of the 1988 election was
another major alliance that contested the election in
On August 6, 1990, the Government of Benazir Bhutto was opposition to the PPP/PDA. In addition to the IJI and the
dismissed and the National Assembly was dissolved by PDA, 25 political parties nominated candidates for the
President Ghulam Ishaq Khan with the support of the Army election. For the names of political parties in the IJI and
Chief General Mirza Aslam Beg. The removal of the outside see the section on the competing player in the
government was carried out in a coup-like manner. The 1988 elections. There were several independent
Army took control of important government buildings in candidates as well.
Islamabad, including the Prime Minister house and the
National Assembly. The Bhutto government was accused The PPP/PDA and the IJI dominated the election process
of corruption, mismanagement and a failure to maintain and offered the largest number of candidates. These
law and order. The IJI, the MQM and some other political electoral alliances represented diametrically opposed
parties welcomed the removal of the Federal Government. perspectives on the problems faced by Pakistan in the
domestic and external contexts.
Later provincial assemblies were also dissolved. The new
election was fixed for November 24, 1990 for the National
Assembly and November 27 for the provincial assemblies.
Key Issues
The dissolution of the National Assembly was challenged The PPP was on the defence for its rule from December
in the Lahore and Sindh High Courts. Both upheld the 1988 to August 1990, highlighting what it viewed it as its
President's decision to dissolve the National Assembly. domestic and foreign policy achievement. It also projected
The judgment of the Lahore High Court was challenged in itself as the victim of the President's partisanship. It made
the Supreme Court which endorsed the judgment of the sharp criticism of the IJI and how the caretaker
Lahore High Court with notes of dissent by two judges. The administration was opposing the PPP and supporting the
dissolution of the Sindh Assembly was challenged in the IJI.
Sindh High Court which validated the dissolution. The
dissolution of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was The IJI offered itself as an alternative to the PPP with a
challenged in the Peshawar High Court which declared the promise to establish corruption free, efficient and effective
dissolution as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court governance to serve the people better with inspiration from
suspended the Peshawar High Court judgment and later Islamic principles and teaching. Their appeal was to the
set it aside by a divided judgment. political right and Islamic segments of the society and
those against the left-oriented PPP. Like the election
Instead of appointing a nonpar tisan caretaker campaign for the 1988 election, the focus was on
administration, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan appointed personalities with a lot of negative criticism of the
Ghulam Mustaf Jatoi as the caretaker Prime Minister, who adversaries. In the Punjab the electoral campaign turned
was leader of the opposition in the dissolved National into a political fight between the Bhutto legacy/PPP and the
Assembly and a member of the IJI. Provincial caretaker PML/Nawaz Sharif. The latter symbolized all that was anti-
administrations were also given to the IJI or its allies. Bhutto in the Punjab.
The caretaker administrations, especially at the federal

The Competing Players level, were partisan and they were tilted heavily in favour of
the IJI. Like the 1988 election, the ISI resorted to
The main electoral competition was among those who manipulation of the election in favour of the IJI.
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Under direction from the election cell of the Presidency and the first week of November 1990. He enjoyed a lot of
with full knowledge of the Army Chief General Mirza Aslam goodwill at the popular level and his selection was also
Beg, the ISI obtained Rs. 140 million (about U.S.$ 6.45 welcomed by the State institutions. The IJI electoral
million at the exchange rate of 1990). Rs. 60 million were triumph was a major setback for the PPP that talked on the
distributed among the IJI linked political leaders and some elections being “stolen” from it. However, such statements
journalists opposed to the PPP. The ISI used the rest of the did not have any impact on the political situation in 1990-
funds later for unspecified purposes. The names of the 1991. It was often non-cooperative with the IJI
political leaders and journalists that received the funds government in the Parliament. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
became available in 1996 when the then Director-General and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan worked smoothly with
of the ISI, Lt-General Muhammad Asad Durani gave an each until 1992-1993 when strains developed between
affidavit which was presented to the National Assembly. A them.
statement containing these names was submitted to the
Supreme Court in February 1997 in the case filed by Air Initially it was expected that Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi,
Marshal Muhammad Asghar Khan. This case was taken up caretaker Prime Minister, will become the elected Prime
by the Supreme Court in 2012 and more details became Minister on behalf of the IJI. But Nawaz Sharif was able to
available about who, how and why funds were given to the convince the IJI leaders and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan
IJI political leaders and journalists. The political leaders for his assumption of this office.
named in the list denied having received any funds from the
ISI.
President Ghulam Ishaq Khan addressed the nation on

radio and TV on the eve of the 1990 election. His speech
sounded like an election campaign speech for the IJI.
Election Results
The IJI won a simple majority in the National Assembly. It

won 106 seats (total strength for General Muslim seats
207). The PPP-led and dominated PDA got only 44 seats.
The third largest group was that of independents with 22
seats. The MQM got 15 seats, contesting as the Haq Parast
Group.
The PPP/PDA performance was equally poor in the

provincial assemblies. The IJI obtained majority in the
Punjab and emerged as the single largest party in NWFP
(Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa). In Sindh, the PPP/PDA was the
single largest party and in Balochistan Provincial
Assembly 7 parties and independents won the seats. The
voter turnout for the National Assembly was 45.2 percent.
Like the previous elections since 1985, this election
adopted the system of separate electorate.
Formation
The IJI strengthened its position by winning over the

support of some independent members and some political
parties. Nawaz Sharif was installed as the Prime Minister in
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The 1993 Election Sharif on the charges of corruption, nepotism, terrorizing

the opposition, violation of the Constitution and subversion
The elected national and provincial assemblies and the of the authority of the military. Before removing the
elected civilian government at the federal level could not government, the President obtained the blessings of the
complete their five-year term. This was the third elected Army Chief and the leader of opposition, Benazir Bhutto.
National Assembly that was unable to complete its tenure
since 1985. The earlier dismissal of the Federal The new election date for National Assembly was fixed as
Government and the dissolution of the National Assembly July 14 and a veteran political leader, Sher Baz Khan Mazari
were in May 1988 and August 1990. The same story was was appointed caretaker Prime Minister. The ousted
repeated in 1993, first in April and then in July. There were political leadership challenged the presidential dismissal in
more political turns and twists in politics in 1993 than in the the Supreme Court that restored the government of Nawaz
past. Sharif with a ten to one judgment on May 26. Nawaz Sharif
returned to the office of Prime Minister. The Supreme Court
judgment gave him legal legitimacy but he continued to
Election Backdrop face political challenges, making it difficult for him to
consolidate his position.
The tradition of confrontation between the PPP and the IJI
that started during 1988-1990 continued after the 1993 He faced two crises in his political party, the PML, and the
election. Being the opposition, the PPP was on the PML ruled province of Punjab. The PML had a short-lived
offensive, although its senior members faced the wrath of internal crisis after the dismissal of Muhammad Khan
the IJI government in Islamabad and Lahore. Junejo in May 1988. A group headed by Nawaz Sharif
supported General Zia-ul-Haq's decision to dismiss the
The Sharif government faced more difficulties when it Junejo government. Others sided with Junejo, criticizing
developed differences with the Presidency and the military the dismissal. This divide was patched up on the initiative
in 1992-1993. This virtually isolated the Nawaz Sharif of the ISI that became active to unify the right-wing and
government in the domestic context and the PPP derived a Islamist parties for countering the PPP. This divide re-
grudging satisfaction from it. surfaced as the conflict between Ishaq Khan and Nawaz
Sharif deepened. The erstwhile supporters of Junejo sided
Nawaz Sharif began to develop differences with the Army with Ishaq Khan while others supported Nawaz Sharif.
Chief General Asif Nawaz Junjua and President Ghulam They held a convention in Lahore to elect Nawaz Sharif as
Ishaq Khan in 1992 on governance and power the PML chief. This faction began to be known as the PML-
management issues. The conflict came to surface when Nawaz Group (PML-N). After Junejo's death on March 18,
after the sudden death of General Asif Junjua in January 1993, the PML members identifying with Junejo and
1993, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan exercised his supporting Ishaq Khan vis-à-vis Nawaz Shari met
discretionary powers to appoint General Abdul Waheed separately to elect Hamid Nasir Chatha as their leader. This
Kaker as the new Army Chief instead of another General faction was known as the PML-Junejo (PML-J) and
known to be Nawaz Sharif's favourite. opposed Nawaz Sharif in the 1993 political crisis.
Nawaz Sharif declared by the end of January 1993 that he The pro-Junejo PML members revolted against the Punjab
would reduce the discretionary power of the President. By Chief Minister, Ghulam Hyder Wayne, a protégé of Nawaz
early March an open confrontation began between Ishaq Sharif, in the Punjab Assembly and removed him through a
Khan and Nawaz Sharif on the powers of the presidency vote of no-confidence. He was succeeded by Mian
and prime minister which divided the political leaders even Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Speaker of the Punjab Provincial
within the PML and the IJI, some supporting the President Assembly, with the support of the PML-J, the PPP and
and others favouring the Prime Minister. On April 17, independent members.
Nawaz Sharif addressed the nation on radio and TV,
accusing the presidency of conspiring against him and that Soon after the restoration of the Nawaz Sharif government
he would not take “dictates” from any quarters. by the Supreme Court, he decided to get rid of the Wattoo
government (viewed as pro-Ishaq Khan). Whereas the
On April 18, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the PML-N people filed a notice for a vote-of-no-confidence in
National Assembly and removed the government of Nawaz Wattoo, the latter advised the Provincial Governor to
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dissolve the Provincial Assembly on May 29, 1993. The Pakhtunkhwa) were already dissolved. New caretaker
Punjab High Court restored the Punjab Assembly on June administrations were appointed in these provinces.
28. Shortly afterwards, the Governor again dissolved the
Provincial Assembly on a new advice from the Chief The new election was scheduled on October 6 for the
Minister, Wattoo, neutralizing the PML-N effort to file a new National Assembly and October 9 for the Provincial
motion for no-confidence against the Wattoo government Assemblies.
in the Provincial Assembly.
The Competing Players
Nawaz Sharif adopted another strategy to take control of
the Punjab. His government asked the President to remove The two alliances, the IJI and the PDA, that contested the
the Punjab Governor and appoint his nominee, Mian 1990 election, got dissolved because the constituent
Muhammad Azhar. On refusal by the President, Nawaz parties either left or lost interest in them. The PML-N
Sharif had a resolution passed by the joint session of the contested election on its own. The PPP also contested
Parliament for the take-over of the Punjab administration separately but it entered into a political arrangement with
by the Federal Government (June 29). The Federal the PML-J under the rubric of Pakistan Democratic Front
Government appointed Mian Muhammad Azhar as the (PDF). The two parties agreed not to put up candidates
Administrator of the Punjab (an office that did not exist in against each other and agreed to work together in the
the Constitution) without the knowledge of the President. A Parliament after the elections.
new Chief Secretary and Inspector General of Police were
appointed and these three people asked the Corps The Jamaat-i-Islami established a new political
Commander Lahore to make the Rangers available to them organization for contesting the election. It was named as
to take over the Punjab Administration by removing the Pakistan Islamic Front (PIF). The Jamaat-i-Islami chief
Governor. The Army decided to stay out of the conflict and Qazi Hussain Ahmad also served as the PIF chief.
the effort of the Federal Government to take-over Punjab on
the night of June 29-30 failed. Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazlur Rahman group (JUI-F)
and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan (Noorani) agreed to
These developments caused such a rift between Nawaz cooperate with each other for the election under the title of
Sharif and Ishaq Khan that the administration was virtually Islami Jamhoori Mahaz (IJM). Another alliance of Islamic
paralyzed. Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto, the PPP leader and right-wing political parties was headed by Jamiat-e-
announced the party's plan to launch a long march to Ulema-e-Islam-Samiul Haq Group (JUI-S). It was labeled
Islamabad on July 16. as Muttahida Deeni Mahaz (MDM) which included 24
political parties. Most of them had very little electoral
The Army Chief, General Abdul Waheed Kaker, decided to support. Another electoral combine under the title of
use his influence to resolve the Nawaz-Ishaq conflict. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) included 8 left wing
negotiation by the senior Army commanders with both and regional-nationalist parties. Some small parties
sides resulted in an arrangement for their exit from their contested in their individual capacity.
respective offices. In accordance with the arrangement,
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recommended to President The real contest was between the PML-N and the PPP.
Ishaq Khan to dissolve the National Assembly on July 18, Other groups and parties had limited local and regional
1993. Ishaq Khan announced the dissolution of the standing.
National Assembly. He administered the oath to the
caretaker Prime Minister, Dr. Moeen Qureshi, shortly after The MQM boycotted the National Assembly election but
midnight when the date had changed to July 19, and soon participated in the Sindh Provincial Assembly election.
afterwards he submitted his resignation. Wasim Sajjad,
Chairman of the Senate, took over as the Acting President.
Key Issues
Dr. Moeen Qureshi, a Pakistani economist based abroad,
was appointed caretaker Prime Minister with the consent The PPP and the PML-N dominated the election discourse.
of the Army, the PPP and the PML-N. The Punjab and Sindh Both had issued manifestos, as was the case in the past.
Provincial Assemblies were dissolved on July 19. The They highlighted how they would serve the people and
Provincial Assemblies in the Punjab and NWFP (Khyber- engage in socio-economic development programmes to
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August 2013
the advantage of the people and control prices of essential independent members and small parties to set up a
commodities for households. government at the federal level on October 19, 1993 with
Benazir Bhutto as the Prime Minister. She assumed this
The major attention was not on the manifestos but the PPP office for the second time. The PPP formed government at
and the PML-N engaged in mutual criticism, showing the the provincial level in the Punjab and Sindh. The PML-N
other side had exploited the State resources and engaged joined with the ANP to set the provincial government in
in corruption and nepotism when it was in power. Personal Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. However, within six months the PPP
attacks on the personalities of the top leaders were quite dislodged the PML-N-ANP government and installed its
common. The PMLN maintained an anti-military own government in NWFP (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa). In
establishment profile and criticized the former President Blochistan, the PML-N established a coalition government.
Ghulam Ishaq Khan for conspiring against the PML/IJI
government. Presidential election was held on November 13. The PPP
nominee Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari was elected to this
The PIF projected itself as an alternative to the PML-N and office defeating the PML-N nominee Wasim Sajjad.
the PPP and that it would take punitive measure against
those who engaged in corruption and misuse of state
resources in the PPP and the PML government. The PIF
engaged in a massive propaganda campaign through
newspaper advertisement that “Qazi Hussain Ahmad is
coming” to power to knock out the two political parties and
rectify the ills of the political system. The Islamic parties
raised Islamic issues and appeals and regional-nationalist
parties raised local and nationalist issues that had a very
limited appeal.
Election Results
The PPP emerged as the single largest party in the National

Assembly with 86 seats. Its allied party, PML-J got 6 seats.
Its main rival, PML-N secured 73 seats. Independent
candidates got 15 seats. Islamic parties that contested
election as three set of electoral entities, PIF, IJM and MDM,
performed poorly. The IJM got 4 seats; others got less than
this. The voter turnout for the National Assembly was 37.6
per cent.
At the provincial level, the PPP got a clear majority in the

Sindh Assembly but no political party got a clear majority
in the Punjab, NWFP (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) and
Balochistan. In the Punjab Assembly, the PML-N got 104
seats. The PPP obtained 94 seats and its allied party, the
PML-J got 18 seats. In the NWFP (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa)
Provincial Assembly, the major seats distribution was: PPP
22, ANP 21, and PML-N 15. In Balochistan Provincial
Assembly 40 seats were shared by 11 political parties and
independents.
Formation
The PPP and the PML-J obtained the support of some

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The 1997 Election Assemblies were also held on the same day for the first
time.
This was the fourth general election in quick succession.
No government and the Parliament completed its normal The Competing Players
term since 1985. All governments were removed by the
President with the blessing and support of the Army Chief.
The main contenders in the February 1997 election were
the PPP and the PML-N. In all, 47 political parties
Election Backdrop nominated candidates for the National Assembly election.
There were some independent candidates. In addition to
The Benazir Bhutto government developed political the PML-N, five other factions were in the field for the
differences with President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari election. Two factions of the PPP entered the electoral fray.
and alienated the military for a number of reasons,
including poor governance. President Leghari dismissed The PPP-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) party was established
her government and dissolved the National Assembly on by Murtaza Bhutto in March 1995. He had returned to
November 6, 1996 with the support of the Army Chief Pakistan in November 1993 and developed strong
General Jehangir Karamat. The dismissal of Benazir Bhutto differences with Benazir Bhutto. He organized a new
was undertaken in a coup-like manner. All government political party PPP-SB for wrestling the political initiative
installations and offices were taken over by the Army from Benazir Bhutto. After his assassination on September
troops. The Prime Minister House was cordoned-off by the 20, 1996, his widow, Ghinwa Bhutto, took the command of
Army troops and Benazir Bhutto could not contact anyone the party that contested the 1997 election. Another faction
for some hours. For the first time, all airports and mobile of the PPP called Z.A Bhutto Group also fielded candidates.
phones were shut down for few hours. Benazir Bhutto's These PPP factions were unable to cause any electoral
husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was arrested by the Army from problem to the PPP.
the Governor House in Lahore and handed over to civilian
authorities. The Mohajar Quami Movement got divided into two
factions in 1992: the MQM-Altaf and the MQM-Haqiqi. The
President Leghari blamed the Bhutto government of MQM-Altaf maintained its primacy and its candidate
corruption, mismanagement, attempts to destroy the contested the election as the Haq Parasat Group) and the
independence of judiciary through the proposed MQM Haqiqi remained at the margins of politics in urban
accountability law, the bugging of telephones of senior Sindh. The Jamaat-i-Islami boycotted the election. Several
officials and judges, extra-judicial killings and imminent other Islamic parties fielded candidates.
economic collapse. The Provincial Assemblies were also
dissolved. The Supreme Court upheld the dissolution of Imran Khan established Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf on April 25,
the National Assembly and removal of the Bhutto 1996 and participated in the 1997 General Election.
government in the last week of January 1997.
Key Issues
Malik Meraj Khalid, one of the founder members of the PPP,
former Speaker of the National Assembly and former Chief
Every political party made high sounding promises to the
Minister of the Punjab, who was alienated from the PPP,
electorate. Islamic political parties played up Islamic
was appointed caretaker Prime Minister. Caretaker Chief
themes more than other political parties. Their appeal did
Ministers were appointed in the provinces.
not go beyond their hard core followers in certain specific
constituencies. As other political parties also talked of
Universal adult franchise was introduced in the Federally
Islam, the Islamic parties could not project themselves as
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) by the caretaker
the exclusive champions of Islam. Islamic parties
administration on December 14, 1996. The election to 8
competed more with each other than with other political
FATA seats for the National Assembly was held on the
parties. Imran Khan's PTI contested the national and
basis of adult franchise in February 1997 General Election
provincial election for the first time and showed much
for the first time.
enthusiasm in projecting itself as an alternative to the two
major political parties but it failed to draw any attention in
The election for the National Assembly were scheduled for the election campaign.
February 3, 1997. The election to the Provincial
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August 2013
The election campaign was dominated by the PML-N and assumed the office of Prime Minister on February 17, 1997
the PPP and, as in the past, the Punjab was the main arena for the second time. The PML-N joined with the MQM, the
of political competition for these political parties. The PML- ANP and some independent members with 177 votes in
N and other political parties criticized the poor the total house of 217 seats (General seats plus non-
performance of the ousted Benazir Bhutto government. It Muslim seats). It also assumed power in three provinces: It
was criticized mainly for economic mismanagement, established an exclusively PML-N government in the
corruption and the failure to maintain law and order. The Punjab with Shahbaz Sharif as the Chief Minister. It formed
PPP defended its track record and launched counter coalition governments in Sindh and NWFP (Khyber-
offensive on the PML-N and the poor governance of its Pakhtunkhwa). In Balochistan, two regional parties
government during 1990-1993. Both parties also engaged (Balochistan National Party and Jamhoori Watan Party,
in mutual recriminations. These parties also highlighted formed a government with the help of smaller groups. In
their manifesto that contained a high-flying vision of the August 1998, this government led by Akhtar Mengal was
future. With the exception of the speeches of the top replaced with a PML-N–led coalition.
leaders of these two parties their manifesto did not figure in
the campaigning at the constituency level. Local issues The PPP was in the opposition with reduced seats. It was
dominated there. The PPP campaign was mostly lackluster the worst ever defeat for the PPP in the National Assembly.
and it appeared that they did not expect to win. The success of the PML-N was described as the “heavy
mandate” from the people.
Election Results
The PPP lost the national and provincial elections badly.

The magnitude of its electoral setback surprised most
political observers. It won only 18 seats in the National
Assembly; all from Sindh. It performed more poorly in the
Provincial Assembly election. It got 2 seats in the Punjab,
one each in NWFP (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) and Balocistan.
It won 34 seats in the Sindh Provincial Assembly.
The PML-N performed exceptionally well. It won 136 seats

out of 207 general seats in the National Assembly. The
MQM or the Haq Prasat group obtained 12 seats. The ANP
won 9 seats. 21 people were elected as independents. The
voter turnout for the National Assembly was 36.1 per cent.
The unofficial circles claimed that the turnout was lower
than the official figure.
The PML-N performed equally impressively at the

provincial level. It swept the polls to the Punjab Provincial
Assembly by capturing 211 seats of 240 general seats. In
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly, it got 32 seats
and its allied party, the ANP, won 29 seats. In Sindh, the
PPP and the MQM maintained their edge with 34 and 28
seats but the PML-N made reasonable gains as compared
to the past. In Balochisan the seats sere distributed among
several regional and nationwide parties.
Formation
The PML-N emerged as a nation-wide party with seats in

the National Assembly from all provinces. Nwaz Sharif
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August 2013
The 2002 Election power he enjoyed before the coup.
The 2002 election managed carefully by the military The Supreme Court endorsed the assumption of power by
government of General Pervez Musharraf were meant to General Pervez Musharraf in May 2000 and gave him three
civilianize the military government. Though the political years to hold fresh election.
parties were allowed to contest the election, the role of the
PPP and the PML-N was limited and the military Like a typical military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf
government engaged in political engineering to make sure returned to civilian rule through a carefully regulated
that only the political leaders willing to work with General process. First, he removed President Rafiq Tarar on June
Musharraf were in the lead. 20, 2001 and assumed the office of the President in
addition to his positions of the Chief Executive and the
The system of separate electorate introduced by General Army Chief. Second, he held local government election
Zia-ul-Haq was done away with and Pakistan returned to with expanded power to the district level in December
joint electorate from the 2002 election. Some seats were 2000-August 2001. Third, he secured his Presidency by
reserved for non-Muslims. Women reserved seats were winning an uncontested referendum on April 30, 2002,
re-introduced and increased in the two houses of the enabling him to stay in office as an elected leader for five
Parliament and four Provincial Assemblies. years. He polled 97.5 per cent of the votes cast in the
referendum as per official figures. Fourth, on August 21,
2002, General Pervez Musharraf issued a Legal
Election Backdrop Framework Order (LFO) to introduce changes in the
suspended Constitution to strengthen his position as the
Nawaz Sharif had two-thirds majority in the National President by assigning him, among other things, the
Assembly and a comfortable majority in the Senate. He powers to dissolve the National Assembly and remove the
used his position to strengthen his control over the Federal Government in discretion. He also re-acquired the
Parliament and the State institutions. He introduced 13th power to appoint the services chiefs, Provincial Governors
and 14th constitutional amendments hurriedly to and the Election Commission in his discretion. No person
strengthen his position in the party and vis-à-vis the could hold the office of Prime Minister for more than twice.
President. He attempted to cow down the print media and
developed confrontation with the Supreme Court, the The notification for the holding of the election was issued
military and the Presidency. He made the Chief Justice of on August 16, 2002. The polling day was later fixed as
Pakistan (Sajjad Ali Shah), one Army Chief (Jehangir October 10, 2002 for the National Assembly and Provincial
Karamat) and one President (Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari) Assemblies.
to quit their offices. He appointed his protégé and political
non-entity (Muhammad Rafiq Tarar) as President in A number of changes were made in the election process in
January 1998. He made an unsuccessful attempt to 2002. The system of joint electorate was enforced,
increase his administrative powers for implementation of returning to the original provisions (pre General Zia-ul-Haq
Islam under the proposed 15th constitutional amendment. period) of the 1973 Constitution. The minimum age for
voters was reduced from 21 to 18 years. The number of
As Nawaz Sharif attempted to remove General Pervez seats in the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies
Musharraf from the command of the army while he was on were increased. The general seats in the National
his return flight from Colombo, Sri Lanka and install his Assembly were increased to 272 from 207.
favourite, Lt General Khwaja Ziauudin as the Army Chief,
the top command staged a coup and removed Nawaz Candidates for the election to the National and Provincial
Sharif's government and dissolved the National Assembly Assemblies were required to possess the bachelor's
on October 12, 1999. degree or equivalent as the minimum condition to contest
election.
The Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf designated
himself as the Chief Executive and suspended the 1973 70 reserved seats were added to the National Assembly.
Constitution. Provincial Governments and Assemblies 60 seats were reserved for women and 10 for non-
were also removed. President Rafiq Tarar agreed to Muslims. Both were elected indirectly form the list
continue as the President who was stripped of whatever provided by the political parties in proportion to the seats
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August 2013
won by the parties in the concerned Assembly. Similarly banned for being sectarian). The Jamaat-e-Islami and the
reserved seats for women and non-Muslims were JUI-F dominated the MMA which caused some irritation
provided in the Provincial Assemblies. among other partners after it assumed power in NWFP
(Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa).
The original 1973 Constitution provided for reserved seats
for women. These reserved seats expired after the 1988 The MQM contested in urban Sindh only. Five factions of
general election as provided in the Constitution. There the PML contested the election. Several other political
were no women reserved seats for the elections in 1990, parties had strong ethnic and regional identities with
1993 and 1997. General Pervez Musharraf revived and limited support while others were political nonentities. In
increased reserved women seats in all elected houses at all, 59 parties and electoral alliance offered candidates for
the Federal and Provincial level. the election to the national and provincial assemblies.
The Competing Players Key Issues
The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q) that The election campaign was closely monitored by the
broke out of the PML-N in 2000-2001 enjoyed the Election Commission and the intelligence agencies. The
blessings of the military government. It was headed by political parties gave limited attention to national level
Chaudhry Shaujaat Hussain. political and economic issues and avoided the criticism of
the military government. Similarly foreign policy and
The PPP and the PML-N participated in the election without security issues received limited attention. The focus was
their top leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif on local and constituency related affairs. The issues like
respectively. Benazir Bhutto was in exile in Dubai. Her poverty, under-development, unemployment and health
husband, Asif Ali Zardari was in prison in Pakistan since his and education facilities figured prominently. The PPP and
arrest on November 6, 1996 when Benazir Bhutto's the PML-N election campaigns were low keyed because
government was dismissed by President Farooq Leghari. they did not want to incur the wrath of the military
Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif and other members of the government and lose the opportunity to be in the electoral
family were in exile in Saudi Arabia since December 2000 process.
under an arrangement between Pakistan's military
government and the Saudi Royal family. The MMA maintained a strong anti-U.S. disposition which
helped to win support in the Pashtun dominated areas
In order to avoid legal complications, the PPP under the where anti-U.S. sentiments were strong. The U.S. military
leadership of Benazir Bhutto established a new party – action in Afghanistan in October-November 2001 caused
Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian (PPPP) with much resentment in NWFP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Makhdoom Amin Fahim as its chairman. This got because a good number of Afghan Taliban moved into
registered with the Election Commission and contested the these regions from Afghanistan and a good number of
election. The voters and party activists hardly made any Afghan Pashtuns and Pakistani Pashtuns came to these
distinction between the PPP and PPPP (three or four Ps). areas for medical care after being injured by U.S. air raids.
The relatives of people were killed as the U.S. resorted to
Four small political parties established an electoral air attacks on Afghanistan. The MMA exploited the post-
coalition called National Alliance. This included Millat Party Afghanistan operation situation. The military government
of Farooq Khan Leghari, National People's Party of Ghulam also had a soft corner towards the MMA in order to weaken
Mustafa Jatoi, Sindh Democratic Alliance of Arbab Ghulam the PPP and the PML-N. The unity demonstrated by six
Rahim, and Sindh National Front of Mumtaz Bhutto. Islamic parties in the MMA also enabled them to perform
better.
Six Islamic political parties joined together to create
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). This electoral alliance
included Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazlur
Election Results
Rahman (JUI-F), Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam Sami-ul-Haq
(JUI-S), Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP), Jamiat-e- Seventeen political parties and alliances were represented
Ahle-Hadith, Tehrik-e-Islami (reincarnation of TNFJ in the National Assembly. More people were elected as
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P I L D AT
August 2013
independents than was the case in the earlier election Po s t - E l e c t i o n S i t u a t i o n / G o v e r n m e n t

going back to 1998. The independents were 30 in number. Formation
The PML-Q that enjoyed the quiet support of the military The military government engaged in political engineering
government and the intelligence agencies won the to enable the PML-Q to form a coalition government at the
maximum number of seats. It won 77 general seats. When federal level. It won over the MQM and most independent
we add the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims as members for supporting the PML-Q. The National Alliance
well as the seats won in the bye-election in January 2003, led by Farooq Khan Leghari and some small parties also
its strength rose to 122 in a house of 342 seats. The PPPP agreed to support the PMLQ for the formation of the
(PPP-Parliamentarian) got 62 seats that rose to 80 after the government.
bye-election in January 2003 and reserved women and
non-Muslim seats. The military government succeeded in winning over 10
members of the National Assembly belonging to the PPPP.
The MMA surprised most political analysts by getting 45 They defected and labeled them as the PPP-Patriots and
National Assembly seats that rose to 61 after the add-on extended full support to the PML-Q efforts to set up a new
reserved seats. The PML-N captured only 15 seats which government. These defections were facilitated because
rose to 19 by January 2003. The MQM won 13 general the military government did not revive the constitutional
seats that rose to 17 with the add-on reserved seats. The article that prohibited the parliamentarians from changing
National Alliance also won 13 general seats which political parties. Six of these PPPP defectors were
increased to 16 by adding women reserved seats. The accommodated in the Federal Cabinet. The defection
PML-Functional, the PML-Jinnah and the PPP-Sherpao got clause was revived when the required defections had been
4, 2 and 2 general seats respectively. Eight political parties made and no more defections were required.
had one general seat each.
The National Assembly held its inaugural session on
The voter turnout for the National Assembly was 41.8 per November 16, 2002 and elected Zafarullah Khan Jamali as
cent. the Leader of the House and Prime Minister on November
21 with a bare minimum vote of 172 votes in a House of
The Punjab Provincial Assembly was dominated by the 342 members. The original nomination of Jamali came
PML-Q that got 216 general seats. The PPP came second from President General Pervez Musharraf and the PML-Q
with 65 general seats. The PML-N obtained 43 seats. The accepted the nomination and pursued it. He took the oath
National Alliance obtained 16 general seats and the MMA of office on November 23.
got 11 general seats. The PPP-Patriots won 8 general seats.
The indirect election to the 100 member Senate, the upper
The PPPP had the leading position in the Sindh Provincial house, was held on February 24 and 27, 2003. It held its
Assembly with 62 general seats. The MQM got 41 seats. first session on March 12. The 1973 Constitution was
The PML-Q won 18 general seats. The National Alliance, revived in phases. Some articles of the 1973 Constitution
PML-Functional and the MMA got 16, 13 and 8 general were revived on November 16, 2002, when the National
seats. Assembly held its inaugural session. On December 31,
2002, more articles were revived and the full restoration of
The NWFP (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) was dominated by the the Constitution was completed on March 12, 2003, when
MMA that got 66 general seats. The PPP-Sherpao won 13 the Senate opened its first session, marking the
general seats. The PML-Q, the PPPP and the ANP got 10 completion of the Parliament.
general seats each. The PML-N obtained 5 general seats.
The Provincial Assemblies were inaugurated gradually.
The Balochistan Assembly results showed that the PML-Q The NWFP (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) Provincial Assembly
and the MMA won 21 and 18 seats respectively. opened on November 25, 2002 and the MMA leader Akram
Khan Durani took the oath as the Chief Minister on
Four other parties were represented in the Assembly in November 30. The Punjab Provincial Assembly also held
addition to some independent members. its first session on November 25 and the PML-Q leader
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P I L D AT
August 2013
Chaudhry Pervez Illahi took over as the Chief Minister on

November 29. The Balochistan Provincial Assembly was
inaugurated on November 28 and on December 1, the
PML-Q's Jam Mir Muhammad Yousaf took the oath as the
head of a coalition government. The Sindh Provincial
Assembly held its first session on December 12 and a
coalition government under the PML-Q leader Ali
Muhammad Mahar was installed on December 17.
The most outstanding feature of the 2002 election results

was the extra-ordinary success for the MMA which formed
the provincial government in NWFP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
It was part of the coalition governments in Sindh and
Balochistan. Pakistan's Islamic parties never obtained
such a success in the past. However, the MMA
disintegrated by 2007-2008 and these parties could not
perform so well in the 2008 election.
The military government and the intelligence agencies,

especially the ISI, was active during the election period in
favour of the PML-Q and it played a role in securing
defection of the members, cultivating coalition and helping
the PML-Q for the Senate election.
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August 2013
The 2008 Election ISI and the MI to his political advantage. That is the main
reason that he did not want to quit as the Army Chief.
The 2008 election represented the triumph of political and
democratic forces and provided an opportunity to civilian His continuous manipulation of the political forces caused
political and societal groups to pursue an expanded role in alienation even among those civilians who stood by him.
political and societal affairs. The efforts of the military His decision to change prime minister without any credible
government of General Pervez Musharraf to sideline the reason caused concern among his loyalists. Mir Zafarullah
nationwide political parties, the PPP and the PML-N, failed Khan Jamali was asked to resign in June 2004 for no
miserably and these two political parties effectively obvious reason. On June 20, 2004 Chaudhry Shujaat
demonstrated their popular support. The Musharraf-led Hussain assumed this office as a stop-gap arrangement.
military dominated authoritarian rule and its close civilian When Shukat Aziz, the then-Finance Minister, got elected to
allies were rejected by the electorate. the National Assembly, he replaced Shujaat Hussain on
August 20, 2004. The PML-Q and its allies had no role in
The rise of Islamic parties in the 2002 election was prime ministerial changes. They endorsed the decisions
reversed in 2008 because the domestic and external made by Pervez Musharraf and felt belittled by these
factors that helped their fortune in 2002 did not exist in unilateral changes by Pervez Musharraf.
2008. These parties returned to their normal political
standing which was limited and area-specific. The stage for his downfall was set by a self-created
political crisis, when on March 9, 2007, he summoned the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to his office to ask him
Election Backdrop to resign. On the Chief Justice's refusal, Musharraf first
announced his removal but later changed it into
The 2002 elections enabled the military government of suspension and filed a reference against him to the
General Pervez Musharraf to civilianize itself by co-opting Supreme Judicial Council.
the PML-Q and some other political parties and weakening
the role of the major political adversaries like the PPP and This incident and mistreatment of the Chief Justice by the
the PML-N. His rule got another boost when, on December police triggered a nationwide protest spearheaded by the
26, 2003, he managed to get the 17th constitutional lawyers who were joined by the political parties and
amendment approved by the two houses of the Parliament societal groups. It turned into a nationwide movement
because, in addition to its regular civilian allies, the MMA targeting General Pervez Musharraf and other top
agreed to support the constitutional amendment. It gave commanders of the Army.
parliamentary endorsement to the LFO (August 2002) that
enhanced the powers of the President through unilateral A 13 member bench of the Supreme Court set aside the
amendments in the Constitution and provided reference against the Chief Justice in July, enabling him to
parliamentary cover to the military rule, 1999-2002. On return to his position. However, the protest against
December 30, 2003, he obtained a vote of confidence in Musharraf continued in one way or other.
his Presidency by the Parliament and Provincial
Assemblies. This was not a constitutional requirement but Meanwhile Musharraf lost the sympathy and support of
Musharraf wanted to strengthen his democratic most Islamic groups, including some in the MMA when he
credentials. He promised to quit as the Army Chief by ordered military operation against the Red Mosque in
December 31, 2004. Islamabad to knock out radical and militant Islamic
activists based in this mosque. This operation alienated
Pervez Musharraf's political triumph could not be attributed large sections of Islamists and the militant groups were
to the growing resilience of the civilian elected institutions alarmed that the Musharraf government was now
and processes created in 2002 or the political clout of the confronting them with force.
co-opted political leadership. He owed his holding on to
power to his capacity to use the State apparatus and Another ill-advised move was to get him re-elected on
patronage to his advantage. The support of the military, October 6 from the Parliament and Provincial Assemblies
especially the Army high command was critical to that were completing their regular tenure in November. The
longevity of his rule. This enabled him to make use of the civil society groups, lawyers and most political parties
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P I L D AT
August 2013
opposed this move but Musharraf went ahead to get code of ethics.
himself elected.
International observers from 21 countries came to
As the political situation seemed to be slipping out of Pakistan during the election period. The EU Election
Musharraf's control and his relationship with the Supreme Observer Team had 119 members. Pakistani observers
Court was extremely uneasy, he imposed a State of belonging to non-official organizations also monitored the
Emergency on November 3, 2007, held the Constitution in election process.
abeyance and issued a provisional constitutional order
requiring the judges to take a new oath of office. The The military and paramilitary personnel were deployed for
majority of judges of the Supreme Court and Provincial the polling. The Army provided 34,000 personnel and
High Court either refused to take the new oath or they were paramilitary made 47,000 personnel available for the last
not invited to take the new oath. All such judges lost their couple of days of the election. The Police performed the
job. In this way Musharraf got rid of the Chief Justice and a regular security duties.
large number of other judges. The political re-action was
most negative and ignited public protest once again. The U.S., the UK and the EU provided funding and technical
assistance for the election process, including making of
On Novermber 28, 2007 he vacated the office of Army voters list, capacity building for holding elections. For
Chief and appointed General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani as the example the USAID provided $ 22.19 million and the U.S.
Chief of Army Staff, losing the direct control of the Army. State Department provided $ 6.87 million for various
He took the oath as the civilian president (for second term) election related campaigns like voters' education, training
on November 30. to election staff and independent monitoring.
On December 14, he announced several changes in the The Competing Players

Constitution to strengthen and secure his position and on
December 15, he withdrew that state of emergency and The PPP and the PML-N actively participated in the election
returned to constitutional rule. while their leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif
returned to Pakistan on October 18, 2007 and November
Meanwhile the National Assembly completed its tenure on 25, 2007 respectively. Nawaz Sharif's earlier bid to return
November 15 and Pervez Musharraf appointed to Pakistan on September 10 was foiled by the Musharraf
Muhammad Mian Soomro, Chairman of the Senate, as the regime when he was refused entry on arrival at the
Caretaker Prime Minister on November 16. He served as Islamabad Airport and forced to return to Saudi Arabia.
Caretaker Prime Minister from November 16, 2007 to
March 25, 2008, when the elected Prime Minister The return of Benazir Bhutto was made possible through
assumed office. The National and Provincial elections long drawn negotiations between the Musharraf regime
were scheduled for January 8, 2008. This date was and Benazir Bhutto spread over several months and
changed to February 18, 2008 after violence erupted in the encouraged by the United States. On October 5, 2007
aftermath of assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December President Pervez Musharraf issued the National
27, 2007. Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) that stipulated the
withdrawal of prosecution of people who are “falsely
In 2002, two state-owned TV channels and one private involved for political reason or through political
sector TV covered the election. By 2008, at least 10 private victimization in any case” commenced between January 1,
sector news channels covered election campaign and 1986 and October 12, 1999. It also said that any order
voting. This was in addition to the state-owned TV channel. passed by the court in absentia against an accused will be
These channels competed with each other in providing viewed as being without a legal basis and will not be acted
news and coverage of the election process. Modern upon.
communication technology was used by political parties
and candidates. This included text messaging, cellular Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan and aggressively
phones, websites and blogs, and e-mail. There was pursued the election campaign. After her assassination on
widespread publicity in the streets through posters, December 27, 2007, her son, Bilawal was designated as
handbills and billboards. Some of it violated the election
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P I L D AT
August 2013
Chairman of the PPP and her husband, Asif Ali Zardrai was education facilities, poverty and under-development were
named a Co-Chairman who actually spearheaded the PPP noted in most manifestos and commitments were made to
election campaign. improve the quality of life for people. The law and order and
internal security issues were raised in the speeches and
Nawaz Sharif assumed the leadership of his party, PML-N, statements of leaders. Power shortage and economic
on return, which gave a boost to the party. problems were also raised. Foreign policy and security
issues were discussed in broad terms. As a matter of fact,
The 6 party electoral alliance of Islamic parties, the MMA, the manifestos of different political parties were
collapsed long before the election. Its constituent elements overlapping.
contested the election separately or collaborated with
other parties in their individual capacity. In addition to broad domestic and foreign policy themes
the candidates raised constituency related specific issues,
A coalition was set up under the name of All Pakistan mainly addressing welfare and better civic facilities.
Democratic Movement (APDM) that included the PML-N,
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, and Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami The PPPP election campaign was dominated by the
Party (PMAP). The Jamaat-i-Islami worked closely with it. images of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and how
Practically this coalition did not work. The APDM decided they had to face unnatural deaths. The speeches of these
to boycott the polls but the PML-N decided to stay in the leaders were played in some PPPP election meetings. The
electoral process. Other three parties boycotted the polls. PML-N was more critical of the Musharraf regime than the
PPP. It avoided any adverse comment about Benazir Bhutto.
The PML-N announced the boycott of the polls soon after
the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. However, as the PPPP The Islamic parties that contested the election raised
decided to contest the election and appealed to the PML-N Islam-oriented themes and highlighted how the people
to opt for the election, it decided to contest the election. were neglected by the military government of Pervez
Three parties from Balochistan also boycotted the polls. Musharraf. The JUI-F emphasized its efforts to serve
These were Balochistan National Party (Mengal), people as a part of the MMA government in NWFP (Khyber-
Jamhoori Watan Party and National Party. Pakhtunkhwa).
Five faction of the PML – Quaid-i-Azam, Functional, Junejo, The election campaigning was low-keyed because of
Jinnah and Zia – decided to merge as the PML in May 2004 threat of terrorism. There were several instances of bomb
under the leadership of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. Soon explosions and suicide bombings in January-February
afterwards, the PML-Functional decided to maintain its 2008 that dampened election enthusiasm. There were less
separate identity and contested the 2008 election big public meetings and rallies or marches.
separately. The National Alliance of 2002 splintered and its
component parties either joined the unified PML or revived Election Results
their separate identity.
The military maintained a non-partisan profile in the course
The MQM not only contested election in urban Sindh but of the election. There were no complaints of interference of
nominated some candidates in other provinces. It did not the ISI or the MI in the election process.
win any seat in the Punjab, NWFP (Khyber-Pakhtukhwa)
and Balochistan. It was a split mandate. No political party got an absolute
majority in the National Assembly. The PPPP emerged as
In all 36 parties and alliances fielded candidates for the the single largest party with 95 general seats. This number
National Assembly election. rose to 122 by adding the reserved seats for women and
non-Muslims won by the PPPP. The PML-N came second
Key Issues with 72 general seats and 20 reserved seats for women
and non-Muslims (Total 92). The erstwhile ruling PML-Q
The major political parties had issued manifestos which won 41 general seats and 12 reserved seats (Total 53).
focused on all socio-economic issues, especially price The MQM won 19 general seats, all from urban Sindh. Its
hike and inflation. The lack of adequate health care and strength reached 25 by adding reserved seats. The ANP
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P I L D AT
August 2013
won 10 general seats, all from NWFP (Khyber- PML-N partnership in the Punjab broke down and the PPPP
Pakhtunkhwa). It also won 3 reserved seats for women. left the government but the PML-N continued to rule Punjab
Independent candidates won 10 seats. comfortably.
The voter turnout for the National Assembly was 44.4 per The Sindh Provincial Assembly was dominated by the PPP.
cent. It secured the cooperation of the MQM and smaller political
parties and independents to set up a coalition government.
Islamic parties failed to repeat the performance of the In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the ANP-led coalition government
2002 election. The JUI-F got more seats in the National was installed. The provincial government in Balochistan
Assembly than any other Islamic Party. The Jamaat-i- was also a coalition of several political parties, led by a
Islami and Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf had PPPP leader.
boycotted the election.
The National Assembly elected in the February 2008
Though the mandate was divided reflecting increased election completed its normal term on March 16, 2013.
political polarization in Pakistan. However, the political The Provincial Assemblies were completing their normal
parties with centrist, moderate and liberal views term on different dates in March-April. However, these
dominated the election results. Two political parties, the were dissolved within a week of expiry of the term of the
PPP and the PML-N that faced the wrath of the Musharraf National Assembly to hold the national and provincial
regime came on the top, reviving the pattern of two elections simultaneously in May 2013.
dominant political parties.
Formation
The PPP and the PML-N were joined by the MQM, the ANP
and some independent members to set up a coalition
government at the federal level. Yousaf Raza Gilani of the
PPP headed this government on March 25, 2008, after
being elected unanimously by the National Assembly. The
election of the speaker, Dr. Fahmida Mirza, first woman
speaker of the National Assembly, was through unanimity.
This engendered much optimism about the future of
democracy.
The cooperation between the PPP and the PML-N proved

short-lived. By August 2008, the PML-N withdrew from the
Federal Government and decided to sit in the opposition.
The coalition government continued with the MQM, the
ANP and independent members.
Presidential election was held in September and Asif Ali

Zardari, co-chairman of the PPP, was elected by defeating
the PML-N nominee.
At the provincial level, coalition governments were

installed. In the Punjab Assembly, the PML-N had a
comfortable majority with the support of independent
members. However, it brought the PPP on board which
stayed in the coalition even after the PML-N left the
coalition government at the federal level. The PPPP and the
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August 2013
The 2013 Election a Parliamentary Committee created especially for this

purpose.
The May 2013 General Election was held against the
backdrop of repeated rumors about their postponement. The Prime Minister in consultation with the Leader of
There were more violent incidents and deaths during the the Opposition in the National Assembly sends three
election than in the past which did not let the election names to the Parliamentary Committee for “hearing
campaign take off to its traditional festive mode. and confirmation of any one person.” If the Prime
Minister and the Leader of the Opposition do not agree
However, the political activists and voters were not afraid on three names, each can forward separate lists to the
of bombings and suicide attacks by extremists and came Parliamentary Committee for consideration which
out in a large number to vote on the polling day, reiterating can confirm any name. The President appoints the
their commitment to the democratic process. name approved through this procedure. The
procedure for setting up the Parliamentary Committee
These elections have increased the political choices has been laid down in the Constitution.
available to the people with the emergence of the Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) as a credible political force. Its catch- 2. Second, the Constitution provided for the
all public meetings and political mobilization activated the establishment of caretaker governments at the
young urbanites and first time voters, increasing political Federal and Provincial levels for the election period on
activism in the society which in the long run can produce the discretion of the President and the Provincial
positive as well as negative results. Governor respectively. The discretionary powers of
the President and the Governor were done away with
The 2013 General Election has also shown that political by the 20th constitutional amendment (2012) and a
civilian government can be changed through peaceful, new elaborate procedure was introduced which
constitutional and electoral process. The complaints that became operative for the first time for the May 2013
have surfaced about the election process need to be Election.
looked into carefully for improving the electoral process.
The appointment of a caretaker government is a three-
stage process with a time-frame for each stage. The
Election Backdrop Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the
outgoing National Assembly must agree on the name
The National Assembly and the Federal civilian of the caretaker prime minister within three days of the
Government, established in March 2008 after the February dissolution of the National Assembly. If they cannot
2008 General Election, completed their normal five year agree on a name each will send two names to a
term on March 16, 2013. Subsequently, the Provincial specially constituted Parliamentary Committee
Assemblies were dissolved on the recommendations of comprising 8 members, equally divided between the
the Chief Ministers to enable the Election Commission of Government and the Opposition in the National
Pakistan to hold the General Election to the National Assembly or the Senate, to be nominated by the Prime
Assembly and four (4) Provincial Assemblies on the same Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the
day. i.e., Saturday, May 11, 2013. National Assembly respectively. If the parliamentary
committee cannot agree on a name for the caretaker
Three procedural changes distinguish this election from prime minister within three days the nominated
the earlier elections. names will be sent to the ECP that will decide within
two days as to who will become the caretaker prime
1. First, the 18th Constitutional Amendment (2010) minister from among the four names forwarded by the
strengthened the role of the Election Commission of Parliamentary Committee. For a caretaker chief
Pakistan (ECP) and changed the procedure for minister in the province the same procedure is
appointment of its members. The President's power followed.
to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner and other
four members in his discretion was replaced with a In case of the selection of the Caretaker Prime Minister
consultative process involving the Prime Minister, the for the May 2013 Election, the matter was finally
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and settled by the ECP. The Caretaker Chief Ministers in
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August 2013
Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkwa and Sindh were The Competing Players

selected by the Chief Minister and the Leader of the
Opposition in each province. In the case of the Punjab, One hundred eleven (111) political parties fielded the
the caretaker chief minister was selected by the candidates for the National and Provincial Assemblies in
Provincial Parliamentary Committee. addition to independent candidates for all assemblies.
However, the electoral politics was dominated by 6
3. Third, the nomination paper for candidacy sought political parties: the Pakistan People's Party (PPP),
more detailed information than ever about the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Group (PML-N), Pakistan
candidates and their families' financial affairs, bank Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM),
accounts, sources of income and related matters. Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Muslim League
(PML).
The ECP also decided to enforce Article 62
(Qualifications for membership of legislative bodies) The PPP contested the election as the PPP-Parliamentarian
and Article 63 (Disqualifications for membership to (PPP-P) under the chairmanship of Makhdoom Amin
legislative bodies) of the Constitution on the Fahim, to show that President Asif Ali Zardari was not
candidates on the assumption that only angel-like and holding any office in this party. The original PPP that did not
completely honest people should seek election. contest the election was registered with the ECP with
These articles lay down conditions that can not be Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as the Patron-in-Chief. This
easily enforced through purely legal and judicial arrangement goes back to 2002 when the PPP-P was
means. Some of the conditions emphasize that the established under the chairmanship of Makhdoom Amin
candidate should be of “good character” and must Fahim (Benazir Bhutto having no formal office) to avoid any
not be “commonly known as one who violates Islamic legal wrangling in the election organized by the military
injunctions.” He must have “adequate knowledge of government of General Pervez Musharraf.
Islamic teachings and paractics….as well as abstains
from major sins,” and that the candidate must be Since 1988 Pakistan's politics was dominated by the PPP
“sagacious, righteous and non-profligate and honest and the PML factions. These emerged as the two dominant
and ameen.” The candidate must not, among other parties and other parties that won some seats in the
things, do anything “prejudicial to the Ideology of general elections were not in a position to directly
Pakistan or morality.” challenge the primacy of these two political parties. This
monopoly was contested by the PTI in the May 2013
The ECP did not give any instructions on how to judge election by presenting itself as the third option to the voters.
the candidates on these criteria. Therefore, the
officers scrutinizing the nomination papers used their The PTI was established in 1996 by Imran Khan, a former
personalized and subjective criteria to judge if the Cricket Test captain and known for philanthropist work, but
candidate fulfilled these conditions by asking it did not have much political impact until October 30, 2011
frivolous questions or demanded that the candidate when it held a massive public meeting in Lahore, attracting
should publicly narrate the basic principle of Islam, the youth, first-time voters and all those, mainly urbanites,
how prayers are offered or recite the verses from the who were alienated from the politics of the two major
Quran. For some, the scrutiny of nomination papers political parties. The PTI held a series of public meetings in
turned out to be an oral test in Islamic and Pakistan the next 12 months and built strong support among
Studies. A large number of candidates were younger urban population. Many leaders who did not see
disqualified at the scrutiny level. However, most of the any future for them in other parties joined Imran Khan to
disqualified candidates were allowed to contest seek a new opening for them.
election at the appeal level and by the High Courts on
the plea that without a formal court conviction a The PTI launched its election campaign by holding a big
person could not be disqualified for failing to answer public rally in Lahore on March 23, 2013, and sought a
the question asked by the scrutiny officer. chance to rule the country after the two major political
parties had failed to deliver to the people. Imran Khan
described the leadership of both parties as corrupt and
37
P I L D AT
August 2013
involved in nepotism and amassing wealth abroad. Islamic-sectarian party, Ahle Sunnet Wuljamat, an
incarnation of the defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba.
The PML-N election campaign was launched by Nawaz
Sharif on March 25, 2013 by holding an impressive public In Sindh, the PML-Functional, led by the Pir of Pagaro
rally at Mansehra. He talked of building high-profile formed a 10-party alliance that included several Sindhi
projects like motorways, bullet trains, overcoming the nationalist parties and the PMLN. These parties were
current energy crisis and measures to boost the economy. known for their anti-PPP disposition. However, this alliance
did not function effectively and its parties contested
The PPP-P (PPP) opened its election campaign by major election on their own, although these offered cooperation
addresses of Bilawal Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari to each other where constituency-level arrangements
to select party leaders in the night between 3rd and 4th of could be made.
April to synchronize it with the death anniversary of Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto. One positive development was that three political parties in
Balochistan that boycotted the elections in 2008 decided
The MQM decided to put up candidates all over Pakistan to return to the electoral process. These were Balochistan
but its leaders confined their campaign to Karachi and Nationalist Party (Mengal), National Party of Dr. Abdul
Hyderabad. The ANP campaigned only in Khyber- Malik Baloch and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party of
Pakhtunkhwa; its candidates in Karachi pursued individual Mahmood Khan Achakzai.
campaigns. The PML kept itself confined mainly to the
Punjab, although it had put up some candidates elsewhere The election process was challenged by Tehrik-i-Taliban-i-
also. The PML-Functional was limited to a few districts in Pakistan (TTP) as un-Islamic activity and it vowed to
Sindh. disrupt it. The TTP chief, Hakimullah Mehsud categorically
rejected democracy and vowed to replace it with the
More Islamic parties contested the May 2013 election than 'sharia' (traditional Islamic) law. He also declared more
ever. In addition to the well-established Islamic parties like than once that voting was 'haram' (forbidden) in Islam. The
the three factions of the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (Fazlur TTP distributed pamphlets in Karachi, parts of Kbyber-
Rahman: JUIF, Samiul Haq: JUIS, Ideological: JUI- Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas asking the people to stay
Ideological), the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), a host of Islamic- away from the election process. However, the Mulla Nazir
sectarian parties contested the election. The parties group of the Taliban said that it would not interfere in the
identifying closely with different Islamic-sectarian election process in South Waziristan.
traditions—Deoband, Ahle-Hadith, Bralevi, and Jafaria-
Shia also contested the election. A number of persons The TTP declared that it would inflict violent attacks on the
known for their sectarian and militant identification were in election campaign of three liberal-left political parties –
the electoral contest. Islamic parties failed to create an PPP, ANP and MQM – that had in the past supported
electoral alliance because of personality conflicts, political military action against the Taliban. This was not an empty
jealousies and the resurgence of Islamic-sectarian threat. The TTP activists attacked by suicide bombings,
identities. roadside bombs and armed assaults on the public
meetings, candidates and party offices of these three
In October 2012, Maulana Fazalur Rahman revived the parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh.
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) with four Islamic parties in The ANP faced the main wrath of the TTP. Its candidates
the spirit of the MMA as it existed in 2002-2007. This time and party activists were killed, public rallies were attacked
it did not include the JI and the JUI-S. The revived MMA did and some of its election offices were destroyed by
not take off and its constituent parties contested election bombing. The ANP top leadership disappeared from the
separately. An unsuccessful effort was made to turn the political scene to save their lives and the party did not
Defa-i-Pakistan Council (DPC), a conglomerate of several organize big election rallies. There was such a fear of
Islamic and militant Islamic parties set up after the attack violence in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa that the voters in many
by the United troops based in Afghanistan on Pakistani constituencies asked the ANP candidates not to hold
border post of Salala in November 2011. It was known for corner meetings or visit their houses.
anti-U.S. and pro-Taliban disposition. Some of its
constituent parties created Muttahida Deeni Mahaz (MDM) The PPP and the MQM were also targeted by the TTP. The
which served mainly as a cover for the candidates of the PPP leadership did not address a single election rally
38
P I L D AT
August 2013
anywhere. Most of them went underground and Bilawal the major political parties when it came to their socio-
Bhutto went to the United Arab Emirates to protect him economic agendas. All stood for market economy,
from a violent attack. There was no public rally by the PPP investment from inside and outside the country,
in the Punjab. The candidates quietly engaged in privatization and due consideration to the welfare of the
campaigning in the constituencies, avoiding collecting labour, peasants and others disadvantaged sections of the
people in public place. society with focus on education, health care and civic
facilities. Some of the manifestos also talked of
The MQM activists were killed in bombing attacks by the improvement of the conditions of women and youth.
TTP. The MQM pursued its election campaign in a low-key
and discreet manner in Karachi and Hyderabad. The PML-N leadership blamed the PPP Government
(2008-2013) for abysmal governance, mismanagement,
In Balochistan, the separatist Baloch groups attacked corruption and failure to address the problems of the
election campaigning in the Baloch areas. Some common people. The PML-N manifesto was captioned as
candidates and their activists were killed or injured which “Strong Economy, Strong Pakistan” and that they would
made it difficult for most political parties to engage in “change Pakistan” for the better. It vowed to introduce far
election campaign in the Baloch areas of Balochistan. The reaching changes in various sectors of governance in
TTP was less active in this province. order to overcome the lapses of the PPP government. It
promised to raise the minimum wages to Rs. 15000 per
According to one non-official report, 81 people were killed month, create three hundred-thousand new jobs, build
and 348 injured in 56 militant attacks on candidates and housing schemes for the poor, hold local bodies elections
election rallies in April. Additional 29 people were killed and in six months and explore the establishment of three new
375 injured in violence among political activists. The provinces.
Federal Interior Ministry claimed that 161 people were
killed and 652 people were injured in different bombs The PPP-P promised to do better in the second term,
explosions in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balohistan and Sindh rectifying the mistakes of the previous term. The priorities
during the election period, April-May. for the new government included provision of basic needs
of the “economically and socially disadvantaged people”
The TTP did not target other political parties. Therefore, the and “empowerment of all citizens, especially women,
PMLN, the PTI, JI and JUI-F were free to engage in political minorities, youth and dispossessed.” The manifesto
campaigning, including the holding of public rallies. Nawaz talked of improving the economy, creation of jobs,
Sharif and Imran Khan engaged very active campaigning, infrastructure development and tackling the energy crisis.
addressing more than one public rally in one day. However, It also talked of setting up a constitutional court and a “new
there were a couple of instances of violent attacks on the social contract for the federation and provinces through
candidates or offices of the PML-N in Balochistan and the parliamentary consensus; security and guarantee of basic
PTI in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, mainly due to local conflict protections” and “stability and peace-building in the
involving violent groups. region.”
Key Issues The PTI manifesto talked of a New Pakistan highlighted by

justice, peace and prosperity. Other goals included
The election manifestos issued by the political parties creation of employment in rural areas and introduction of
made high sounding and catch-all promises to attract primary health-care for all and the announcement of the
maximum number of people across provincial, ethnic, schedule for local government elections within 100 days of
cultural and religious divides. These manifestos offered assumption of power. The federal administrative system
dreams of a better future to the people, improved would be revamped to reduce its departments and
governance, elimination of corruption and mal- institutions. Civil Services would be reformed and the
administration, promotion of merit and professionalism discretionary funds of the high officials would be abolished.
and an end to electricity and gas shortage on a high priority The parliamentarians would not be given any development
basis. fund. An effective and comprehensive industrial and trade
policy would be adopted to boost the economy. A uniform
There was hardly any significant ideological divide among system of education would be introduced throughout the
39
P I L D AT
August 2013
country with more funding for general and technical U.S.

education. Special attention would be given to the welfare
of youth and women and corruption would be eliminated in The manifestos highlighted the broad-based agendas of
90 days. While underlining the need of good neighbourly political parties and the top leaders talked about the
relations the PTI vowed to withdraw from the United States promises of the manifesto in their speeches and
sponsored war on terrorism that did not serve Pakistan's statements. However, if we examine electioneering in
national interest. individual constituencies, the manifesto appears quite
irrelevant. The constituency campaign dealt with the day-
The ANP manifesto gave special attention to peace and to-day problems and needs of the people. The issues that
security, provincial autonomy, increased allocations for figured prominently in electioneering in a constituency
education, and introduction of political, legal, included, among other issues, supply of drinking water,
administrative, social, economic and fiscal reforms. The schools and colleges in the area, conditions of roads and
ANP claimed that its 711 activists and leaders were killed in side-lanes, medical facilities in the government hospitals,
terrorist attacks but it would continue fighting extremism sewerage system, and law and order.
and terrorism because these were “a threat to the very
existence of the country.” However, it kept the door of All political parties favoured good relations with other
dialogue open for peace and stability for those who countries, especially the neighbluring states. However, the
accepted the government's writ and renounced violence. It election campaign focused on domestic issues. Foreign
also advocated political, social and economic reforms in policy issues did not figure prominently. The U.S. policies
the tribal while recognizing the need of enforcing the writ of in the region were criticized by Islamic political parties and
the state there. the PTI. There were no emotional statements on Kashmir.
In fact, India and Kashmir were hardly mentioned in the
The MQM launched a 22-point manifesto with a focus on speeches and statements of the political leaders in the
“empowering people.” It suggested reforms in all sectors course of election campaign.
of governance and public life with strong emphasis on
setting up of elected local government. It talked of putting a Election Day
limit on the maximum land holdings and suggested that
allocation to health and education would be raised to 5 There were reports of mismanagement in some polling
percent of the GDP each. The PMLQ issued a 7-point stations. In some cases the necessary material or staff did
manifesto for ending terrorism, corruption and poverty. not reach on time. There were complaints of lack of
Like other political parties it emphasized more allocations facilities in some polling stations also. Some candidates
for education, health care and other services to people. It complained about the manipulation of the electoral
also talked about building democratic Pakistan through process to tilt the result.
human rights agenda.
The political parties and candidates complained about
All Islamic political parties vowed to create an Islamic mismanagement and rigging only in the constituencies
welfare State with emphasis on enforcing the Sharia law, were they lost. There were no complaints by the parties
i.e., traditional Islamic law. Most were critical of the U.S. where their candidates won.
policies in the region and criticized military action military
action in the tribal areas. The JUI-F manifesto proposed to Most of these complaints were individual and local which
gradually introduce free education and health care and could be addressed through the appeal procedure
launch new projects for electricity generation. It declared provided in the elections laws and rules.
that the minimum wages for workers and labour would be
equal to the price of one “tola” gold which amounted to Rs. There is no evidence available yet of an organized attempt
53000 in April-May 2013. The Jamaat-i-Islami manifesto by a State institution or a political party to systematically
highlighted corruption as the main challenge and declared manipulate the election.
that it would work towards controlling high prices,
unemployment and terrorism and that the problem of Election Results
electricity shortages would be resolved in six months.
The price of electricity and gas would be reduced by 30
The total registered voters were 86,189,802 (86.19
percent. It vowed to free Pakistan from the “slavery” of the
million). This included 37,597,415 (3.76 million) female
40
P I L D AT
August 2013
voters and 48,592,387 (4.86 million) male voters. 148 The main seat takers were Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party
political parties registered for seeking elections symbols 10, PMLN 8, National Party 6, BNP (Mengal) 2, PMLQ 2
but only 111 fielded candidates for National and Provincial and ANP 1.
Assemblies. Out of this only 18 political parties made it to
the National Assembly in addition to independent Special seats were reserved for women in the National
candidates. Twenty parties got less than hundred votes Assembly and four Provincial Assemblies which were
each. There were 4671 candidates for 272 National filled on the basis of the proportional system whereby
Assembly general seats. For the Punjab Provincial these seats were allocated to the party on the basis of the
Assembly, there were 5758 candidates for 297 general general seats won by them. However, a large number of
seats. There were 2809 candidates for 130 general seats women contested on general seats. There were 448
in the Sindh Provincial Assembly. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa women candidates for general seats (National Assembly
Provincial Assembly had 99 general seats and 1438 147, provincial assemblies 301). Only six women were
candidates were in the field. In Balochistan 953 candidates elected on general seats to the National Assembly (PPP: 3,
competed for 51 general seats of its Provincial Assembly. PML-N: 3). Ten women were elected to provincial
assemblies on general seats (Punjab 8, all PMLN; Sindh 1,
The PML-N emerged as the single largest party in the PPP; Balochistan 1, PML-N).
National Assembly winning 126 general seats and 35 per
cent of the votes cast. The PPP won only 32 general seats The increased number of women candidates for general
and its vote percentage was 15.7 only. The PTI won 28 seats was in sharp contrast to the societal practice in
general seats but its vote percentage was 17.8; this was Lower Dir and some areas in Swat and some localities in
more than the votes secured by the PPP. The MQM the tribal areas and Kbyber-Pakhtunkhwa of disallowing
captured 18 seats and 5.6 per cent votes. The JUI-F won women to vote. In some instances vote denial to women
10 seats (One from the tribal areas, 6 from Khyber- was limited to some polling station rather than the whole
Pakhtunkhwa and 3 from Balochistan) with 2.9 percent constituency. The decision to disallow women to vote was
vote. PML-Functional won all 5 seats from Sindh with 2.2 often made by a consensus in a community or a village
percent votes. Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami Party and Jamaat- which had the blessings of the local leadership of the
i-Islami got 3 seats each; the former got these seats from political parties. Local custom and traditions were cited as
Balochistan and the latter won all seats from Khyber- the reason. In the 2013 election the lack of security was
Pakhtunkhwa. The PMLQ and National People's Party got also cited as a reason for not allowing women to go to
2 seats each; the former got both seats in Punjab and the polling stations. This practice was limited to not more than
latter won these seats in Sindh. 8 parties got one seat each. ten constituencies.
Independently elected members numbered 28, most of
whom later joined the PML-N. The voter turn-out was 55.02 percent as compared to 44.4
percent in the 2008 election. However, voter turn-out was
The Punjab Provincial Assembly elections were swept by very low in most constituencies in the Baloch areas of
the PML-N which captured 214 general seats. The PPP Balochistan and the tribal areas. One candidate for the
was routed, winning only 5 genera seats. The PTI won 20 Balohistan Provincial Assembly seat in the constituency
general seats. The PMLQ got 7 seats. Over 35 number 41 (Awaran area) got elected with 544 votes out of
independents were elected. over 57000 registered votes. The turn-out in that
constituency was 1.18 per cent.
The PPP retained its majority in Sindh Provincial Assembly,
capturing 66 general seats. The MQM came second with Post-Election Political Situation/Government
36 general seats. The PML-N and PML-F won 8 and 7 Formation
seats respectively. The PTI won 3 general seats.
The PML-N emerged as the leading party at the federal level
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly, the PTI and it got a clear majority in the Punjab Provincial
emerged as the single largest party with 39 general seats. Assembly. Most independent members rushed to join it
The JUI-F got 13 general seats, Qaumi Watan Party and both in the National Assembly and the Punjab Assembly. It
Jamaat-i-Islami won 7 seats each. The hitherto ruling also got the lion's share of women and non-Muslim seats.
party, ANP, got only 5 seats. The National People's Party of Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi and
The mandate was split in Balochistan Provincial Assembly. People's Muslim League of Arbab Ghulam Rahim decided
41
P I L D AT
August 2013
to merge with the PML-N. The PMLN-F also decided to

support the PML-N. All this gave a very comfortable
majority to the PML-N in the National Assembly.
The National Assembly held its inaugural session on June

1, 2013. Nawaz Sharif (PML-N) was elected Leader of the
House and Prime Minister on June 5 with 244 votes. His
rivals, Makhdoom Amin Fahim (PPP) and Makhdoom
Javed Hashmi (PTI) got 42 and 31 votes respectively. The
MQM, JUI-F and other smaller parties voted for Nawaz
Sharif.
Sindh Provincial Assembly began its new term on May 29,

2013 and, on May 30, Syed Qaim Ali Shah (PPP) was re-
elected the Leader of the House and Chief Minister by 86
votes. His rivals, Sardar Ahmed (MQM) and Imtiaz Sheikh
(JUI-F) obtained 48 and 18 votes respectively.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly held its

inaugural session on May 29. Pervez Khattak (PTI) was
elected the Leader of the House and Chief Minister as the
head of a coalition comprising the PTI, Qaumi Watan Party
and Jamaat-i-Islami with 84 votes against Maulana Lutfur
Rahman (JUI-F) who obtained 37 votes. The PTI had won
over most independent members and largest number of
women seats and one minority seat.
The newly elected Punjab Provincial Assembly held its

session on June 1 and it re-elected Shahbaz Sharif as the
Leader of the House and Chief Minister on June 6 with 300
votes as most independent members joined the PML-N
and it got the largest number of reserved women and
minority seats. His rival, Mahmoodur Rashid (PTI) got 34
votes.
The Balochistan Provincial Assembly met for its inaugural

session on June 1. It elected Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch of
National Party unanimously as the Leader of the House and
Chief Minister on June 9. Earlier, Nawaz Sharif decided that
the PML-N would not seek the office of the Chief Minister
under a coalition arrangement. He agreed that the National
Party and Pakhtukhwa Mili Awami Party would lead the
coalition with Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch as the Chief Minister
and the PML-N would support this coalition.
42
P I L D AT
August 2013
Conclusion
Pakistan's ten General Elections have been held respectively in December 1970, March 1977, February 1985, November 1988,
November 1990, October 1993, February 1997, October 2002, February 2008 and May 2013.
Some complaints of mismanagement, excessive use of money and rigging were raised after all these elections by those losing
the elections. However, with the exception of the general election in March 1977, the results were accepted by political parties
and leaders.
Despite the lack of continuity in the holding of elections and four military rules the overall confidence of the people in the
democratic process has not waned. Elections are seen in Pakistan as a legitimate, peaceful and orderly method to hold the
rulers accountable for their deeds and change them peacefully.
The General Elections in 2008 and 2013 have strengthened the confidence and faith of the people in the electoral process. The
2008 election transferred the State power from a military-dominated government to a civilian and political government.
The 2013 election has shifted power from one civilian government to another civilian government after the completion of the
normal term of office. This is democratic continuity.
The voter turn-out in the 2013 Election showed an increase of about 11 per cent over the 2008 election. This is the second
highest turn-out since the 1970 election. This shows a growing interest in the electoral process despite the fact that extremist
elements launched violent attacks on the election campaign. More people were killed and injured during April-May 2013 than in
any previous general election.
It is possible to argue at the end of the 2013 Election that Pakistan has made positive strides on road to democracy. However,
more efforts will be required to improve the electoral process in the light of the experience of the latest General Election.
The holding of better organized, fair and free election is a pre-requisite for democracy but democracy also demands the
establishment of a tolerant, pluralist social order, implementation of the rule of law and removal of socio-economic inequities.
Pakistan falters on these counts. The current widespread religious intolerance and terrorism are two major threats to Pakistan's
society and the State system. Democracy in Pakistan continues to face serious challenges.
43

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Part 1: A Narrative of

Pakistan's 10 General Elections:

The 1970 Election was replaced with the principle of representation on

Election Results The Awami League challenged this decision by massive

Po s t - E l e c t i o n S i t u a t i o n / G o v e r n m e n t Initially the PPP government used the coercive state

The major support for this movement came from the

The 1985 Election c. The political parties must publish a political

In many instances the candidates with known close

On March 2, 1985, General Zia-ul-Haq issued the Revival

On March 23, the joint session of the Parliament was held

The 1988 Election The Competing Players

The caretaker administrations, especially at the federal

President Ghulam Ishaq Khan addressed the nation on

The IJI won a simple majority in the National Assembly. It

The PPP/PDA performance was equally poor in the

The IJI strengthened its position by winning over the

The 1993 Election Sharif on the charges of corruption, nepotism, terrorizing

The PPP emerged as the single largest party in the National

At the provincial level, the PPP got a clear majority in the

The PPP and the PML-J obtained the support of some

The PPP lost the national and provincial elections badly.

The PML-N performed exceptionally well. It won 136 seats

The PML-N performed equally impressively at the

The PML-N emerged as a nation-wide party with seats in

The 2002 Election power he enjoyed before the coup.

The Competing Players Key Issues

independents than was the case in the earlier election Po s t - E l e c t i o n S i t u a t i o n / G o v e r n m e n t

Chaudhry Pervez Illahi took over as the Chief Minister on

The most outstanding feature of the 2002 election results

The military government and the intelligence agencies,

On December 14, he announced several changes in the The Competing Players

The cooperation between the PPP and the PML-N proved

Presidential election was held in September and Asif Ali

At the provincial level, coalition governments were

The 2013 Election a Parliamentary Committee created especially for this

Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkwa and Sindh were The Competing Players

Key Issues The PTI manifesto talked of a New Pakistan highlighted by

country with more funding for general and technical U.S.

to merge with the PML-N. The PMLN-F also decided to

The National Assembly held its inaugural session on June

Sindh Provincial Assembly began its new term on May 29,

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly held its

The newly elected Punjab Provincial Assembly held its

The Balochistan Provincial Assembly met for its inaugural

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