1990 Pakistani general election
General elections were held in Pakistan on 24 October 1990 to elect 217 members of the National Assembly. They resulted in a surprise victory for Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), a conservative front led by Nawaz Sharif, which won 106 seats. The IJI had campaigned for privatisation and social conservative policies. Voter turnout was 45.5%.[1]
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207 of 237 seats in National Assembly 104 seats seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 45.5% (![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Winning party by constituency | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Pakistan |
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Background
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Benazir Bhutto won a plurality of seats in the 1988 election and Bhutto became Prime Minister. However by 1990 there was discontent over rising lawlessness, allegations of corruption and the failure of the government to fulfill the promises it had made during the 1988 campaign.[2]
Parties
The PPP ran in the election in a coalition with 3 parties as the People's Democratic Alliance.[3]
Campaign
By the start of the campaign reports suggested that Bhutto and the PDA were in a stronger position as the caretaker government failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove any charges against her.[4]
At the end of the campaign Bhutto led hundreds of thousands of supporters in a procession in Lahore, while Sharif held a rally for about ten thousand nearby.[5]
Electoral fraud
On 19 October 2012, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled on a petition by Asghar Khan, requesting that the court probe allegations that the 1990 elections had been rigged. The court officially ruled that two Army Generals – Mirza Aslam Baig and Asad Durrani (Head of the ISI) – along with President Ghulam Ishaq Khan – had provided financial assistance to favoured parties.[6] The motive was to deliberately weaken the mandate of the Pakistan Peoples Party. It was believed that the PPP, led by Benazir Bhutto, was a liability to the nation.[7]
Results
The outgoing party, the PPP/PDA, lost the elections. IJI won the popular vote by a very narrow margin of only around 100,000 votes, but the narrow victory in the popular vote translated into 106 seats for IJI against the PDA's 44 seats. The popular argument regarding PDA's huge loss of seats is that the PDA's vote, despite being almost equal to that of IJI, was much more spread out whereas IJI's vote bank was more concentrated. This resulted in PDA candidates losing in IJI won seats by narrow margins.
Parties | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad | 7,908,513 | 37.4 | 106 | +50 |
People's Democratic Alliance | 7,795,218 | 36.8 | 44 | New |
Haq Parast | 1,172,525 | 5.5 | 15 | New |
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam | 622,214 | 2.9 | 6 | −1 |
Awami National Party | 356,160 | 1.7 | 6 | +4 |
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Noorani) | 310,953 | 1.5 | 3 | New |
Pakistan Awami Tehrik | 237,492 | 1.1 | 0 | New |
Jamhoori Wattan Party | 129,431 | 0.6 | 2 | New |
Pakistan National Party | 127,287 | 0.6 | 2 | +2 |
Pakhtun-khwa Milli Awami Party | 73,635 | 0.3 | 1 | New |
Sindh National Front | 51,990 | 0.2 | 0 | New |
Pakistan Democratic Party | 51,645 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
Balochistan National Movement | 51,297 | 0.2 | 0 | New |
Sindh National Alliance | 31,125 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
13 other parties | 64,470 | 0.3 | 0 | – |
Independents | 2,179,956 | 10.3 | 22 | −18 |
Invalid/blank votes | 231,568 | – | – | – |
Total | 21,395,479 | 100 | 207 | 0 |
Source: Nohlen et al. |
Punjab
party | votes | % | seats |
---|---|---|---|
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad | 6,917,723 | 49 | 92 |
Pakistan Democratic Alliance | 5,362,084 | 38 | 14 |
Independent | 1,142,059 | 8 | 6 |
Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam(Noorani) | 246,633 | 2 | 3 |
Pakistan Awami Tehreek | 218,584 | 2 | 0 |
Others | 91,989 | 1 | 0 |
TOTAL | 13,979,072 | 100 | 115 |
Sindh
party | votes | % | seats |
---|---|---|---|
Pakistan Democratic Alliance | 1,827,612 | 42 | 23 |
Haq Parsat | 1,172,525 | 27 | 15 |
Independent | 717,170 | 16 | 5 |
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad | 373,409 | 9 | 3 |
Others | 281,533 | 6 | 0 |
Total | 4,372,249 | 100 | 46 |
KPK
party | votes | % | seats |
---|---|---|---|
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad | 522,546 | 25 | 8 |
Pakistan Democratic Alliance | 467,801 | 22 | 5 |
Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal-Ur-Rehman) | 426,351 | 20 | 4 |
Independent | 358,295 | 17 | 9 |
Awami National Party | 308,051 | 15 | 6 |
Others | 304,870 | 2 | 0 |
TOTAL | 2,117,914 | 100 | 32 |
Balochistan
party | votes | % | seats |
---|---|---|---|
Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam(Fazal-Ur-Rehman) | 130,853 | 19 | 2 |
Jamhoori Wattan Party | 129,431 | 19 | 2 |
Pakistan Democratic Alliance | 103,216 | 15 | 2 |
Pakistan National Party | 90,886 | 13 | 2 |
Pakhtoon Milli Awami Party | 70,673 | 10 | 1 |
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad | 62,354 | 9 | 1 |
Balochistan National Movement | 51,297 | 7 | 0 |
Independent | 29,388 | 4 | 1 |
others | 26,498 | 4 | 0 |
Total | 694,596 | 100 | 11 |
References
- Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p678 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
- Crossette, Barbara (6 May 1990). "Crime Weakens Support for Bhutto, Even in Her Traditional Power Base". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
- Crossette, Barbara (26 September 1990). "Karachi Journal; With the Chips Down, Bhutto's Ace Is Her Father". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
- Crossette, Barbara (21 September 1990). "Bhutto Gaining as Charges Remain Unproved". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
- "World". The Seattle Times. 23 October 1990. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
- Mufti, Mariam (19 June 2018). "Who rigs polls in Pakistan and how?".
- Desk, Web (19 October 2012). "Asghar Khan case short order: Full text". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 8 November 2012.