1970 Elections in Pakistan: A Case-study of NWFP and Balochistan

The first ever general elections in the political history of Pakistan reflected some bitter realities. Pakistan Muslim League, the founder party, vanished completely. From East Pakistan, Awami League of Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman came out as the only representative of the Bengali population and from West Pakistan; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with his Pakistan People’s Party got majority votes. However, the predominantly tribal structure of North-West Frontier Province and Balochistan has produced a pattern of voting behaviour dominated by the primary loyalties. Consequently, the share of the rightist parties during the elections of 1970 in these two provinces was equally poor because the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Hazarvi), which won substantial number of seats, was closer to the National Awai Party (Wali), a champion of the Pashtoon identity, than the rightist parties.