2002 Punjab provincial election

Provincial elections were held in the Pakistani province of Punjab to elect the 14th Provincial Assembly of the Punjab on 10 October 2002, alongside nationwide general elections and three other provincial elections in Sindh, Balochistan and North-West Frontier Province. The remaining two territories of Pakistan, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan, were ineligible to vote due to their disputed status. The elections were held under the military government of General Pervez Musharraf.^[1] The elections saw an end to the two-party system between the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (N), with the centre-right Pakistan Muslim League (Q) emerging as a third main party supporting Musharraf.

2002 Punjab provincial election

← 1997 10 October 2002 2008 →
All 371 seats in the Provincial Assembly 186 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi Qasim Zia Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan Party PML(Q) PPP PML(N) Leader's seat Rahim Yar Khan-VIII Lahore-XIX Not contest Seats won 210 79 47 Seat change 210 76 164 Popular vote 6,144,813 4,145,106 3,028,856 Percentage 33.33 22.48% 16.43%
Map of the results of the election, by constituency
Chief Minister before election Governor's rule Elected Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi PML(Q)

There were allegations that both the provincial and general elections were engineered and rigged to bring Musharraf and his aligned party, the PML-Q in power.^[2]

Candidates and Campaign

There were three main candidates in the election, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Qasim Zia, and Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan. Qasim Zia from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was lesser-known, and paired with the fact that the PPP held lesser influence in Punjab, because the PPP mainly campaigned in Sindh, made the PPP-Qasim Zia campaign weak.

Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan would not contest in a constituency, and during Musharraf’s military government, the PMLN was under severe pressure, with Nawaz Sharif, the party chairman under charges of life in prison. This weakened the PMLN campaign countrywide and in Punjab.^[3]

The two PPP and PMLN campaigns were weakened due to Musharraf’s incumbent military government, this allowed the PML-Q to campaign further. Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is from the Chaudhry family, and held political connections to Musharraf and was formerly part of the PML-N. Pervaiz Elahi’s campaign offered a centre-right political program primarily promoting development, as well as Pakistani nationalism, Conservatism and a halt to PML-N alleged corruption, although his campaign mainly relied on his political connections, primarily to Musharraf.^[4][2]

These candidates and campaigning factors allowed the PML-Q to win the elections, although the PML-Q’s opponents such as the PPP and PMLN alleged rigging.^[2] The results allowed Pervaiz Elahi to become Chief Minister of Punjab for almost 5 years, in which he brought extensive reforms during his tenure.^[5]

Results

  Pakistan Peoples Party: 79 seats

  National Party: 15 seats

  Pakistan Muslim League (Q): 209 seats

  Pakistan Muslim League (Jinnah): 4 seats

  Pakistan Muslim League (J): 4 seats

  Pakistan Muslim League (N): 47 seats

  Pakistan Muslim League (Z): 2 seats

  Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal: 11 seats

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				General	Women	Minority	Total
	Pakistan Muslim League (Q)	6,144,813	33.33	168	37	5	210
	Pakistan Peoples Party	4,145,106	22.48	63	14	2	79
	Pakistan Muslim League (N)	3,028,856	16.43	38	8	1	47
	National Alliance	577,415	3.13	12	3	0	15
	Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal	1,044,217	5.66	9	2	0	11
	Pakistan Muslim League (J)	219,048	1.19	3	1	0	4
	NMP	216,439	1.17	0	0	0	0
	Pakistan Muslim League (Jinnah)	134,748	0.73	3	1	0	4
	Pakistan Muslim League (Z)	74,430	0.40	1	0	0	1
	Others	417,703	2.27	0	0	0	0
	Independents	2,435,199	13.21	0	0	0	0
Total		18,437,974	100.00	297	66	8	371
Source: Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) official website