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1960 Pakistani presidential confidence referendum

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An indirect referendum on confidence in President Muhammad Ayub Khan was held in Pakistan on 14 February 1960,[1] with voters asked whether he should remain president for another five years, having held the position since 1958 after overthrowing the previous government in a military coup.

The vote was held under the basic democracy system introduced after the coup, under which indirect votes were carried out by a 80,000-member electoral college. Its members were elected from single-member constituencies (40,000 in each wing), one for every 600 voters.[2] The elections to the electoral college took place between December 1959 and January 1960 on a non-partisan basis (as political parties were banned).[2]

Around 96% of members of the electoral college voted in favour of Khan.[2] He was sworn in three days after the vote.[3]

Results

[edit]
ChoiceVotes%
For75,08496.37
Against2,8293.63
Total77,913100.00
Valid votes77,91399.23
Invalid/blank votes6080.77
Total votes78,521100.00
Registered voters/turnout80,00098.15
Source: Feldman[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Pakistan gives Ayub five-year mandate". The New York Times. 15 February 1960.
  2. ^ a b c "elec-tion-ary [Election-in-1960]". The Express Tribune. 12 April 2013.
  3. ^ Stanley B. Sprague (2020). Pakistan Since Independence: A History, 1947 to Today. McFarland. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4766-8151-1.
  4. ^ Herbert Feldman (1967). Revolution in Pakistan: A Study of the Martial Law Administration. p. 109.