Pakistan portal |
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]
Choice | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
For | 75,084 | 96.37 | |
Against | 2,829 | 3.63 | |
Total | 77,913 | 100.00 | |
Valid votes | 77,913 | 99.23 | |
Invalid/blank votes | 608 | 0.77 | |
Total votes | 78,521 | 100.00 | |
Registered voters/turnout | 80,000 | 98.15 | |
Source: Feldman [4] |