1988 Pakistani general election
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217 of the 237 seats in National Assembly 109 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 42.75% | ||||||||||||||||||
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Map of Pakistan showing National Assembly Constituencies and winning parties | |||||||||||||||||||
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Pakistan portal |
General elections were held in Pakistan on 16 November 1988 to elect the members of the National Assembly and Senate.
The elections saw the resurgence of
The PPP emerged as the biggest party, winning 94 of the 207 seats in the National Assembly. The IJI came second with 56 seats amidst a voter turnout of just 43%. The PPP was able to form a government with other left-wing parties, including the
Background
On 29 May 1988, the National Assembly which was elected in 1985 was dissolved prematurely by Zia, who also dismissed Junejo and the rest of his cabinet asserting that the 'administration was corrupt and inefficient'. The new polling date (exceeding the limit of 90 days following dissolution laid down by the
Campaign
A total of 1,370 candidates contested the National Assembly elections.[3] The campaign lasted for a month and remained generally peaceful.[2]
After Zia's death, the democratic socialists and secular parties re-united and campaigned under the PPP's platform led by Benazir Bhutto; previously Zia had crushed the socialists' Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, which had attempted to overthrow his military regime, and took extremely tough actions to further disintegrate the movement. The PPP campaign pledged to control and tackle the extremism in Pakistan, and as well as curb the power of the trade unions. The conservatives under Sharif on other hand campaigned upon expanding the industrialisation and privatisation program;
The liberal Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) did not formally contest the elections, but several of its members ran as independents.[4][5][6]
Results
Despite allegations of vote rigging against the PPP, and the use of the ID card rule to keep its less well-organized and relatively less well-off supporters from voting, Bhutto won the election by a margin of over 8%, thus managing to defeat the nine-party alliance of IJI.
MQM members running as independents received 5.4% of the vote, winning 13 seats in Karachi and Hyderabad.[7][8][9][10][11]
The results in three Muslim constituencies were declared invalid; in the subsequent by-elections, the IJI won two seats and the PPP one. There were no candidates for the Ahmadi constituency.[12]
Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tehreek-e-Jafaria (Arif Hussaini) | 42,216 | 0.21 | 0 | |
United Christians Front | 15,918 | 0.08 | 1 | |
All Pakistan Christians Movement | 15,449 | 0.08 | 0 | |
National Democratic Party | 14,960 | 0.07 | 0 | |
Pakistan Mazdoor Kissan Party | 6,652 | 0.03 | 0 | |
Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Hadees Pakistan | 5,225 | 0.03 | 0 | |
Pakistan Masihi League | 4,324 | 0.02 | 0 | |
Pakistan Christians National Party | 3,386 | 0.02 | 0 | |
Tehreek-e-Inqalab-Islam Pakistan | 2,807 | 0.01 | 0 | |
Pakistan Muslim League (Qayyum) | 2,196 | 0.01 | 0 | |
Hazara Front (Mahaz-e-Hazara) | 1,814 | 0.01 | 0 | |
Pakistan Muslim League (Forward Block) | 1,713 | 0.01 | 0 | |
Awami National Party (Ainee Group) | 1,018 | 0.01 | 0 | |
Pakistan Qaumi Mahaz-e-Azadi | 999 | 0.00 | 0 | |
Pakistan National Democratic Alliance | 388 | 0.00 | 0 | |
Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan | 351 | 0.00 | 0 | |
National Muslim League (Muhasba Group) | 282 | 0.00 | 0 | |
Wattan Party | 184 | 0.00 | 0 | |
Independents | 4,232,679 | 21.12 | 48 | |
Seats reserved for women | 20 | |||
Vacant | 4 | |||
Total | 20,041,231 | 100.00 | 237 | |
Valid votes | 20,041,231 | 98.43 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 319,826 | 1.57 | ||
Total votes | 20,361,057 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 47,629,892 | 42.75 | ||
Source: CLEA |
Aftermath
In light of the election results, acting president
The MQM was pivotal in the formation of central government, as the PPP had failed to win a majority of seats. However, the MQM left the coalition in October 1989 when differences developed after dozens were killed at an MQM congregation by Sindhi nationalists, and the alliance fell apart in the wake of ensuing violence. The MQM lent its support to Nawaz Sharif’s Islami Jamhoori Ittehad instead.[13]
References
- ^ Hamid Gul accepts responsibility for creating IJI Dawn, 30 October 2012
- ^ a b c Pakistan: Elections held in 1988 Inter-Parliamentary Union
- ^ Pakistan Elections 2008 | Pakistan Elections 2013 Archived 1 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Elections.com.pk. Retrieved on 3 August 2013.
- ^ "The first 10 general elections of Pakistan" (PDF). pildat.org. PILDAT. May 2013. pp. 19, 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
- ^ Pike, John. "Muttahida Quami Movement - MQM". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
- ^ "MQM's toughest election". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
- ^ "PAKISTAN AT THE POLLS" (PDF). gallup.com.pk. Gallup. 1990. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
- ^ "Volume 3, PAKISTAN NATIONAL, ELECTION: 1988" (PDF). gallup.com.pk. Gallup. 30 April 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
- ^ "The First 10 General Elections of Pakistan" (PDF). pildat.org. Pildat. May 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
- ^ "KARACHI: Parties gear up for general elections". DAWN.COM. 17 August 2002. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
- ^ "Hyderabad: no one's land when it comes to election". DAWN.COM. 7 May 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
- ISBN 0-19-924958-X
- ^ "Timeline: A history of MQM". DAWN.COM. 25 May 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2017.