Elections in Pakistan

Elections from 1947 to 1977

Between 1947 and 1958, there were no direct elections held in Pakistan at the national level.
Provincial elections were held occasionally. The West Pakistan provincial elections were
described as "a farce, a mockery and a fraud upon the electorate
The first direct elections held in the country after independence were for the Provincial
Assembly of the Punjab between 10–20 March 1951. The elections were held for 197 seats. As
many as 939 candidates contested the election for 189 seats, while the remaining seats were
filled unopposed. Seven political parties were in the race. The election was held on
an universal basis with approximately one-million voters. The turnout remained low: in Lahore,
the turnout was 30 percent of the listed voters, and in rural areas of Punjab it was much lower.
On 8 December 1951 the North West Frontier Province held elections for Provincial legislature
seats. In a pattern that would be repeated throughout Pakistan's electoral history, many of those
who lost accused the winners of cheating and rigging the elections. Similarly, in May, 1953
elections to the Provincial legislature of Sindh were held and they were also marred by
accusations of rigging.
In April 1954, the general elections were held for the East Pakistan Legislative Assembly, in
which the Pakistan Muslim League lost to the pan-Bengali nationalist United Front alliance.
[4]
 Incumbent Prime Minister of East Pakistan Mr. Nurul Amin lost his parliament seat to a
veteran student leader and language movement stalwart Khaleque Nawaz Khan in Mr. Amin's
home constituency Nandail of Mymensingh district. Nurul Amin's crushing defeat to young Turk
of United front alliance effectively eliminates Pakistan Muslim League from the political
landscape of the then East Pakistan.
The 1970 Pakistani general election, was the first direct general election after independence of
Pakistan from British India. After a decades-long struggle, the military government was forced to
transfer power to democratically-elected officials. In East Pakistan, the election was portrayed as
referendum on self-governance for the Bengali citizens of Pakistan, who made up nearly 55% of
Pakistan's population and were yet not given rights consistent with those of West Pakistanis.
The election was won by Awami League, having 167 seats out of 313, and Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman was to be the first democratically-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. But the military
government, at the request of opposition leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, refused to transfer power to
the elected Parliament, causing the beginning of the Bangladesh Liberation War.
General elections from 1977 to 2013
After the Separation of East Pakistan, democracy returned to the country. In 1977, the general
elections were held but due to election violence instigated by the right-wing PNA, the martial
law took advance against the left oriented Pakistan Peoples Party, or PPP.
In 1988, the general elections were held again which marked the PPP coming in power but
dismissed in two years following the amid lawlessness situation in the country. In 1990,
the general elections saw the right-wing alliance forming the government but dismissed in 1993
after the alliance collapse. The general elections in 1993 saw the PPP forming government after
successfully seeking plurality in the Parliament. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto made critical
decisions during her era, ranging from working to strengthening the education, defense, foreign
policy and pressed her policies hard to implement her domestic programs initiatives. Despite her
tough rhetoric, Prime Minister Bhutto's own position deteriorated in her native province, Sindh,
and lost her support following the death of her younger brother. Tales of high-scale corruption
cases also maligned her image in the country and was dismissed from her post by her own hand-
picked president in 1996. The 1997 general elections saw the centre-right, Pakistan Muslim
League (N), or PML (N), gaining the exclusive mandate in the country and supermajority in the
parliament. Despite Sharif's popularity in 1998 and popular peace initiatives in 1999,
the conspiracy was hatched against Sharif by General Musharraf, accusing Sharif of hijacking
the plane and pressed terrorism charges against Sharif in the military courts; thus ending Sharif's
government.
Ordered by the Supreme Court, General Musharraf held general election in 2002, bearing Sharif
and Benazir Bhutto from keeping the public office. With Zafarullah Jamali becoming the Prime
minister in 2002, he left the office for Shaukat Aziz in 2004. After the deadly 9/11 attacks in
the United States and Musharraf's unconditional policy to support the American war in
the Afghanistan, further damaged Musharraf's credibility in the country. In an
unsuccessful attempt to dismiss the Judicial system, Musharraf dramatically fall from power.
The 2008 general elections allowed the PPP, assisted with the left-wing alliance, further
consolidated in opposition to Musharraf, though it was plagued with loadshedding, law and order
situation, foreign policy issues, and poor economic performances. In recent elections held in
2013, the PML (N) won the majority seats in the elections and is expected to be forming
government in last weeks of May 2013.
Presidential Elections:
Promulgation of 1956 constitution, Iskandar Ali Mirza became first President of Pakistan; he was
also noted of being the first East-Pakistani Bengali president of Pakistan. In an indirect elections,
the electors of the Awami League voted for Mirza's bid for presidency in 1956. Wanting a
control democracy, President Mirza dismissed four prime ministers in less than two years and his
position in the country was quickly deteriorated amid his actions. In 1958, Mirza imposed
the martial law under its enforcer General Ayub Khan, but was also dismissed the same year.
Assuming the presidency in 1958, Ayub Khan introduced a "System of Basic Democracy" which
mean, "the voters delegate their rights to choose the president and the members of the national
and provincial assemblies to 80,000 representatives called Basic Democrats."
Under this system, the first direct presidential election was held on January 2, 1965. Some
80,000 'basic democrats', as members of urban and regional councils, caucused to vote. There
were two main contestants: Pakistan Muslim League led by President Ayub Khan and the
Combined Opposition Parties (COP) under the leadership of Fatima Jinnah. In this highly
controversial election with the means of using the state machinery to rigging the votes, the PML
secured a thumping majority of 120 seats while the opposition could clinch only 15 seats. Fatima
Jinnah's Combined Opposition Party (COP) only secured 10 seats whereas the NDF won 5 seats
in East Pakistan and 1 in West Pakistan. The rest of the seats went to the independents.
Witnessing the events in 1965, the new drafted constitution created the Electoral College system,
making the president as mere figurehead. In 1973, Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry became the first
president from the PPP in an indirect polling. With the martial law remained effective from 1977
till 1988, civil servant Ghulam Ishaq Khan ran for the presidency on a PPP ticket in a deal to
support Benazir Bhutto for presidency. With special powers granted to President GI Khan, he
dismissed two elected government during period 1990 and 1993; he too was forced out from the
office the same year. After the 1993 general election, the PPP nominated Farooq Leghari who
soon secured majority votes in the parliament. Originally elected for five-year term, Leghari was
forced resigned from the presidency after forcing out Benazir Bhutto from the government in
1996. In 1997 general election, Nawaz Sharif called for fresh presidential elections and
nominated Rafiq Tarar for the presidency. In an indirect election, Tarar received heavy votes
from the electors of Electoral College, becoming the first president from the PML (N). In
1999 martial law against Sharif, Musharraf appointed himself President in 2001. In 2004, he
secured his reappointment for the presidency; though the opposition and religious
alliance boycotted the elections. In 2007, Musharraf again restored his appointment after
the opposition parties also boycotted the elections. As Musharraf was forced out from
power, Asif Zardari of PPP became president after a close presidential elections in
2008. The Pakistani general election of 2013 were held on 11 May 2013. Problems with
providing electricity was one of the major issues with the winning candidate, Nawaz Sharif,
promising to reform electrical service and provide reliable service. Mamnoon Hussain won this
election.