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207 of 237 seats in National Assembly 104 seats needed for a majority |
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Turnout | 40.3% ( 5.2%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General elections were held in Pakistan on 6 October 1993. The election took place after both the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan resigned to resolve a power struggle between them. Although the Pakistan Muslim League (N) won the largest number of votes, the Pakistan Peoples Party won the most seats. After winning the support of minor parties and independents the leader of the PPP, Benazir Bhutto, was elected Prime Minister by the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 40.3%.
The Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) won the 1990 election and the party's leader, Nawaz Sharif, became Prime Minister. In early 1993 he attempted to strip the President of the power to dismiss the Prime Minister, National Assembly and regional assemblies. However, in April 1993 President Khan dismissed Sharif for corruption and called elections for the 14 July after dissolving the National Assembly. Sharif immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, which in May ruled by 10 to 1 that Khan had exceeded his powers and therefore restored Sharif as Prime Minister.
Khan and Sharif then began to battle for control of Pakistan for the next two months. They both attempted to secure control over the regional assemblies and in particular, Punjab. In Punjab this saw a staged kidnapping and the moving of 130 members of the Punjab Assembly to the capital to ensure they stayed loyal to Sharif. Meanwhile, the leader of the main opposition party Benazir Bhutto threatened to lead a march on Islamabad unless new elections were called.