Pakistani general election, 1970
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The first General elections were held in Pakistan in 1970 during the Military regime of Yahya Khan. The polls in East Pakistan, originally scheduled for October, were delayed by disastrous floods and rescheduled for December, and in some cases, January 1971.
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[edit] Parties and Candidates
Twenty-four political parties ran in the elections. A total of 1,957 candidates filed nomination papers for 300 National Assembly seats. After scrutiny and withdrawals, 1,579 eventually contested the elections. The Awami League ran 170 candidates, of which 162 were for constituencies in East Pakistan. Jamaat-e-Islami had the second-highest number of candidates with 151. The Pakistan Peoples Party ran only 120 candidates, of which 103 were from constituencies in the Punjab and Sindh, and none in East Pakistan. The PML (Convention) ran 124 candidates, the PML (Council) 119 and the PML (Qayyum) 133.
The government claimed a high level of public participation and a voter turnout of almost 63%. The total number of registered voters in the country was 56,941,500 out of which 31,211,220 were from the Eastern Wing, while 25,730,280 from the Western Wing.
[edit] Results
| Party | Overall % of votes | Total seats |
|---|---|---|
| Awami League | 38.3% | 160 |
| Pakistan Peoples Party | 19.5% | 81 |
| PML (Qayyum) | 4.5% | 9 |
| PML (Convention) | 3.3% | 7 |
| Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam | 4.0% | 7 |
| Markazi Jamiat-Ulema-Pakistan | 4.0% | 7 |
| National Awami Party (Wali) | 2.3% | 6 |
| Jamaat-e-Islami | 6.0% | 4 |
| PML (Council) | 6.0% | 2 |
| PDP | 2.9% | 1 |
| Independents | 7.1% | 16 |
| Total | 100% | 300 |
[edit] By province
| Party | Punjab | Sind | NWFP | Balochistan | West Pakistan | East Pakistan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awami League | 0 (0.07%) | 0 (0.07%) | 0 (0.2%) | 0 (1.0%) | 0 | 160 (74.9%) |
| Pakistan Peoples Party | 62(41.6%) | 18(44.9%) | 1(14.2%) | 0 (2.3%) | 81 | 0 |
| PML (Qayyum) | 1(5.4%) | 1(10.7%) | 7(22.6%) | 0(10.9%) | 9 | 0(1.0%) |
| PML (Convention) | 7(5.1%) | 0(1.7%) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0(2.8%) |
| Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam | 0(5.2%) | 0(4.3%) | 6(25.4%) | 1(20.0%) | 7 | 0(0.9%) |
| Markazi Jamiat-Ulema-Pakistan | 4(9.8%) | 3(7.4%) | 0(0%) | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| National Awami Party (Wali) | 0 | 0(0.3%) | 3(18.4%) | 3(45.1%) | 6 | 0(1.8%) |
| Jamaat-e-Islami | 1(4.7%) | 2(10.3%) | 1(7.2%) | 0(1.1%) | 4 | 0(6.0%) |
| PML (Council) | 2(12.6%) | 0(6.8%) | 0(4.0%) | 0(10.9%) | 2 | 0(1.6%) |
| PDP | 0(2.2%) | 0(0.04%) | 0(0.3%) | 0(0.3%) | 0 | 1(2.2%) |
| Independents | 5(11.8%) | 3(10.7%) | 7(6.0%) | 0(6.8%) | 15 | 1(3.4%) |
| Total seats | 82 | 27 | 25 | 4 | 138 | 162 |
The Awami League emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly by winning a majority with 160 seats, and also won 288 of the 300 East Pakistan Assembly seats. The Pakistan Peoples Party dominated in West Pakistan, winning 81 of 138 the seats there.
The more conservative parties performed poorly, possibly due to the number of conservative candidates competing with each other in most constituencies. In total the PML (Qayyum), PML (Council), PML (Convention), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Jamiyat Ulema-e-Pakistan and Jamaat-e-Islami won only 37 National Assembly seats.
[edit] Provincial election results
In the provincial elections, the Awami League won 288 of the 300 seats in the East Pakistan Assembly, but none in any of the four West Pakistan assemblies. The Pakistan Peoples Party did well the Punjab and Sindh Assembles but failed to win any seats in East Pakistan. The Assembles of the North West Frontier Province and Balochistan were dominated by the more conservative National Awami Party (Wali) and the PML (Qayyum).
| Party | Punjab | Sind | NWFP | Balochistan | West Pakistan | East Pakistan | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awami League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 288 | 288 |
| Pakistan Peoples Party | 113 | 28 | 3 | 0 | 144 | 0 | 144 |
| PML (Qayyum) | 6 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 24 | 0 | 24 |
| PML (Convention) | 15 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 22 |
| Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Markazi Jamiat-Ulema-Pakistan | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| National Awami Party (Wali) | 0 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 1 | 22 |
| Jamaat-e-Islami | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| PML (Council) | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| PDP | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Other parties | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Independents | 28 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 53 | 7 | 60 |
| Total seats | 180 | 60 | 40 | 20 | 300 | 300 | 600 |
(Source G.W.Choudhury (1974) The last days of United Pakistan p128-129)
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