Pakistan in transition : political development and rise to power of Pakistan people's party

Pakistan stepped into 1970 with renewed hope and vigour. Demo cratic political processes that had remained suspended since Ayub Khan's military coup in 1958 were restored on New Year's Day. The country witnessed an eleven-month period of hectic political activity and campaigning by the aspirants for political power. On December 7, 1970, for the first time since independence in 1947, direct elections were held on a national scale. For the first time on the basis of universal adult franchise, and one-man-one-vote, Pakistan set out to vote in a National Assembly entrusted with the task of framing a new constitution. Ten days later they trekked to the polling stations again to elect members of provincial assemblies, for each of the five provinces of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Even on a provincial scale, these were the first direct elections since 1954 in East Pakistan, the first ever in Baluchistan, the first since 1951 in Punjab and NWFP, and the first since 1953 in Sind.

The results of the elections at both the national and provincial levels showed a sweeping victory for the Awami League in East Pakistan, and a substantial majority for the People's Party in West Pakistan. The elections demonstrated that the East voted for an inward looking Bengali nationalism. It was both a protest Vote against the hegemony of West Pakistan, and a positive vote for an autonomous Bangladesh.

The AL victory (given the emotion charged climate of the East) was not surprising except perhaps in its magnitude; however, the emergence of Pakistan People's Party with its socialist platform, registered an exciting, albeit unexpected, direction in voting behaviour. Subsequent events in 1971 focused world attention on the secession of East Pakistan. The crisis produced a flood of literature on