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2002 Pakistani referendum

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Field	Value
country	Pakistan
location	Pakistan
date
title	For the survival of the local government system, establishment of democracy, continuity of reforms, end to sectarianism and extremism, and to fulfill the vision of Quaid-i-Azam, would you like to elect President General Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan for five years?
yes_text	Yes
yes	42,741,345
no_text	No
no	883676
invalid	282935
previous_year	1984	previous_referendum=1984 Pakistani Islamisation programme referendum

A referendum on allowing Pervez Musharraf to continue as President for five years was held in Pakistan on 30 April 2002. The proposal was approved by 97.97% of voters. Although turnout was reported to be 56.1%, The poll was criticised for being "marred by gross irregularities" by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Background

Musharraf came to power in a military coup on 12 October 1999. He initially referred to himself as "Chief Executive", before later removing President Rafiq Tarar from office and assuming the post himself. Musharraf claimed that holding a referendum was abiding by democratic laws, despite the constitution of Pakistan not containing a reference to electing Presidents by referendums.

Conduct

The referendum was seen by many as a sham or fixed. Opposition parties including the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League referred to the decision of Musharraf to hold a referendum as inappropriate and urged citizens to boycott the vote. In response, the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 and the number of polling stations significantly increased, whilst ID cards were not required for people to cast a vote.

Results

References

[http://www.sudd.ch/event.php?lang=en&id=pk012002 Pakistan, 30. April 2002 : General Musharraf als Präsident für 5 Jahre] Direct Democracy
However, the referendum was boycotted by the opposition on the basis that it was unconstitutional.[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1915985.stm Opposition boycotts Pakistan referendum] BBC News, 7 April 2002
[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1961194.stm Musharraf wins huge backing] BBC News, 1 May 2002
[http://storyofpakistan.com/referendum-2002/ Referendum 2002] Story of Pakistan
[http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2002/05/paki-m07.html Pakistan’s sham referendum endorses Musharraf as president] World Socialist Website

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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