1993 Pakistani general election

1993 Pakistani general election

←  1990 6 October 1993 1997  →
All 217 seats in the National Assembly 109 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	40.02%
First party Second party   Leader Benazir Bhutto Nawaz Sharif Party PPP PML(N) Seats won 89 73 Popular vote 7,578,635 7,980,229 Percentage 37.00% 38.96%
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Nawaz Sharif IJI Elected Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto PPP

General elections were held in Pakistan on 6 October 1993 to elect the members of National Assembly. The elections took place after both the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan resigned to resolve a power struggle. ^[1]

Prior to the elections, the ruling Islami Jamhoori Ittehad alliance was dissolved due to clashes between its member parties. The alliance's place in the two-party system (alongside the Pakistan Peoples Party) was taken up by Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N).

The elections were held under the caretaker government of Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi. Although the PML (N) received the most votes, the PPP won the most seats. After winning the support of minor parties and independents, Benazir Bhutto became Prime Minister for a second non-consecutive term. Voter turnout was 40%. ^[2]

Background

The Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) won the 1990 election and the party's leader, Nawaz Sharif, became Prime Minister. In early 1993 he attempted to strip the President of the power to dismiss the Prime Minister, National Assembly and regional assemblies. ^[3] However, in April 1993 President Khan dismissed Sharif for corruption and called elections for 14 July after dissolving the National Assembly. ^[4] Sharif immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, which in May ruled by 10 to 1 that Khan had exceeded his powers and therefore restored Sharif as Prime Minister. ^[5]

Khan and Sharif then began to battle for control of Pakistan for the next two months. They both attempted to secure control over the regional assemblies and in particular, Punjab. In Punjab this saw a staged kidnapping and the moving of 130 members of the Punjab Assembly to the capital to ensure they stayed loyal to Sharif. Meanwhile, the leader of the main opposition party Benazir Bhutto threatened to lead a march on Islamabad unless new elections were called. ^[3]

Finally on 18 July, under pressure from the army to resolve the power struggle, Sharif and Khan resigned as Prime Minister and President respectively. Elections for the National Assembly were called for 6 October with elections for the regional assemblies set to follow shortly afterwards. ^{[3] [6]}

Campaign

Until the election the chairman of the Senate, Wasim Sajjad became interim president and former World Bank executive Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi became caretaker prime minister. ^[6] The interim government cut spending, introduced a tax on rich landowners and cracked down on corruption and drug traffickers. ^[7] They were praised for stabilising the country while the campaign took place but their policies were criticised by the two main political leaders, Sharif and Bhutto. ^{[1] [7]}

In total 1,485 candidates stood in the election but the main fight was between the PML-N of Nawaz Sharif and the PPP of Benazir Bhutto. ^[1] Their policies were very similar but saw a clash of personalities with both parties making many promises but not explaining how they were going to pay for them. ^[8] Sharif stood on his record of privatisations and development projects and pledged to restore his taxi giveaway program. ^{[8] [9]} Bhutto promised price supports for agriculture, pledged a partnership between government and business and campaigned strongly for the female vote. ^[9] Over 50 people (including former chief minister of Punjab Ghulam Haider Wyne) were killed in violence in the run up to the elections. ^[10]

Opinion polls showed a very close election between the two main parties but there was a lot of cynicism among voters. ^[8] The army was credited with making sure that the election was fair and deployed 150,000 troops in polling stations to ensure this. ^[11]

Results

The PPP won the most seats in the election at 86 but failed to gain a majority with the PML-N second with 73 seats. This was also the first election in Pakistan in which the party that won the popular vote, the PML-N, failed to win the most seats. The PPP performed strongly in Bhutto's native Sindh and rural Punjab, while the PML-N was strongest in industrial Punjab and the largest cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi. ^[9] Islamic fundamentalist candidates did poorly in an election that was marked by a low turnout. ^[1] Turnout in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, was particularly low at 20% after one party MQM (A) boycotted the election. ^[11] International observers from 40 countries reported no serious irregularities in an election which was seen as the most free and fair since 1970. ^[7] One seat was not contested on election day due to the death of a candidate; it was subsequently won in a by-election by the People's Democratic Alliance. ^[12]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Pakistan Muslim League (N)	7,980,229	38.96	73	New
	Pakistan Peoples Party	7,578,635	37.00	89	New
	Pakistan Muslim League (J)	781,652	3.82	6	New
	Pakistan Islamic Front	645,278	3.15	3	New
	Islamic Jamhoori Mahaz	480,099	2.34	4	New
	Awami National Party	335,094	1.64	3	–3
	Mutehda Deeni Mahaz	216,937	1.06	2	New
	Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party	97,541	0.48	3	+2
	National Democratic Alliance	64,713	0.32	1	New
	Jamhoori Wattan Party	54,607	0.27	2	0
	Pakhtun-khwa Qaumi Party	54,144	0.26	1	New
	National Peoples Party (Khar)	48,721	0.24	1	New
	Balochistan National Movement (Hayee)	47,648	0.23	1	New
	Balochistan National Movement (Mengal)	45,228	0.22	1	New
	Other parties	107,979	0.53	0	–
	Independents (Muslims)	1,482,033	7.24	16	–6
	Non-Muslim seats	460,454	2.25	10	0
Vacant				1	–
Total		20,480,992	100.00	217	0
Valid votes		20,480,992	98.66
Invalid/blank votes		277,187	1.34
Total votes		20,758,179	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		51,867,876	40.02
Source: Nohlen et al.

Aftermath

Election for Prime Minister

The election for Prime Minister took place on 19 October 1993. Both main parties lobbied the smaller parties and independents for their support in the National Assembly; the PPP was successful and Benazir Bhutto was elected Prime Minister receiving 121 votes to 72 for Nawaz Sharif. ^[13] Her position was strengthened by a strong performance by the PPP in the regional elections on 9 October, in which the PPP, with the help of its Alliance partners, managed to retake Punjab for the first time since 1971. ^[1]

119 votes required

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Benazir Bhutto	Pakistan Peoples Party	121	62.69
	Nawaz Sharif	Pakistan Muslim League (N)	72	37.31
Total			193	100.00

References

1. "ELECTIONS HELD IN 1993". Inter-Parliamentary Union . Retrieved 25 November 2008.
2. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p678 ISBN   0-19-924958-X
3. Gargan, Edward A. (19 July 1993). "Pakistan Government Collapses; Elections Are Called". The New York Times . Retrieved 25 November 2008.
4. "Pakistan Seeks 2-Party Cabinet". The New York Times . 20 April 1993. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
5. "The Verdict on Two Courts; Judicial Courage in Pakistan". The New York Times . 29 May 1993. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
6. "Top Two Political Powers Resign in Pakistan – Benazir Bhutto Sees Opportunity To Regain Status". The Seattle Times . 19 July 1993. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
7. Gargan, Edward A. (8 October 1993). "Bhutto Wins Plurality and Faces a New Struggle". The New York Times . Retrieved 25 November 2008.
8. Gargan, Edward A. (6 October 1993). "After a Year of Tumult, Pakistanis Will Vote". The New York Times . Retrieved 25 November 2008.
9. "Second Time Lucky?". Time . 18 October 1993. Archived from the original on 28 October 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
10. "Gunmen kill former high-ranking official in Pakistan". UPI. 29 September 1993.
11. Gargan, Edward A. (7 October 1993). "Ex-Leaders Await Pakistan Vote Tally". The New York Times . Retrieved 25 November 2008.
12. Nohlen et al., pp680–687
13. Moore, Molly (20 October 1993). "Bhutto Elected Pakistan's Premier, Says She Hopes to End Isolation". The Washington Post . Retrieved 25 November 2008.