elec-tion-ary [Election-in-1985]

Non-party elections of 1985.

ISLAMABAD: General elections in 1985 were held under Martial Law, at the height of Gen Ziaul Haq’s rule in the country.

Political parties were banned and the elections were held on a non-party basis. Jamaat-e-Islami was the only political party that was allowed to operate as such.

Gen Zia introduced a separate electorate system whereby Muslim voters elected Muslim candidates and non-Muslims voted for non-Muslim candidates. Election rules were changed and seven more seats were added to the National Assembly – three allocated to Sindh and four to Balochistan.

Candidates were now required to be ‘pious Muslims’ and a number of qualification clauses in this regard were added to the law. Another layer of election officers, district returning officers, was introduced and deputy commissioners were appointed on these posts.

The general elections were held peacefully, with a massive public participation. The opposition parties, under the banner of Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, boycotted the elections as their demands for party-based elections and the restoration of the 1973 Constitution were not met. The voter turnout for the National Assembly was 53.69%.

In the provincial assemblies elections, where the constituencies were smaller and the contest harder, the turnout of the voters was even better. It was 57.37% nationwide.

The newly elected National Assembly was to replace the Majlis-e-Shoora and was to have legislative powers as well. Muhammad Khan Junejo was appointed as the prime minister and subsequently formed the government. It was this newly elected assembly that set the tone for later years by incorporating the controversial 8th constitutional amendment. Public meetings and processions were strictly disallowed. No person was allowed to contest elections from more than one seat of the same assembly. Seven candidates won National Assembly seats without facing any competition. No one from the Ahmadi community filed nominations for one seat reserved for them.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2013.