Once the most popular political force in Pakistan, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has made history in the General Elections 2013 by almost being history itself. For the first time in the country’s history, PPP does not find itself amongst the top-two parties in terms of number of votes secured.
Whether it was bad governance or the advent of a new political force in the country that led to such a slump in PPP’s fortune is anyone’s guess. But what is for sure is that the PPP has received a battering so cruel, that the number of votes it secured from all over Pakistan is significantly lower than what it got back in 1988, despite a two-fold increase in total votes polled in the country.
Only in 1997 when PML-N swept with a two-third majority, did PPP get lesser votes in absolute terms. Although, the 15 percent voters it got in 2013 from the country, is its lowest ever. The magnitude of the fall can be judged from the average approval of PPP in the previous six general elections, securing 32 percent of total votes.
Voters from Punjab gave the real kiss of death to the PPP, evident from only 10 percent popular votes from the province. To put things in perspective, this is half the votes PPP got from Punjab in 2008.
Even in 1997, when PPP was brushed aside in the province, it managed to secure a respectable 22 percent votes from Punjab. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf received two million votes over and above PPP in Punjab alone, which is one reason why PPP’s pie in the province shrank so drastically.
KP was not good news for PPP either. The party’s share in total votes from the province nosedived into single digit at seven percent, easily the party’s worst performance in that province. The terrible law and order situation and the emergence of Imran Khan’s party delivered the final blow in KP.
Sindh, as expected remained PPP’s only saving grace, but not without negatives. Despite an additional 1.3 million votes cast in Sindh, PPP’s tally shrank by nearly 0.3 million — indicating a crack even in its strongholds.
What’s more worrisome for the party is the fact that for the first time ever, PPP’s votes from Sindh surpassed those from Punjab. Statistics do not lie and this piece of statistic tells that the PPP has been confined to a single province. The party that was once known as a symbol of national representation has a lot of soul searching to do.
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