Pakistan: Information on the unofficial support of political parties for local body candidates and whether this support includes the use of party logos and slogans on campaign literature, posters and banners
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 April 1993 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | PAK13711 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Pakistan: Information on the unofficial support of political parties for local body candidates and whether this support includes the use of party logos and slogans on campaign literature, posters and banners, 1 April 1993, PAK13711, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aabf74.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
A source at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in a telephone interview, stated that the local people generally know the political affiliations of the candidates in local body elections (2 Apr. 1993). The candidates therefore do not need to use party slogans or logos (Ibid.). The source explained that local body elections are primarily about local issues such as provision of facilities that would improve the standard of living in the community, so people tend to vote for the candidate they think will be most successful at supplying these facilities (Ibid.).
The same source stated that local body elections in big cities like Karachi and Lahore have always drawn national attention, and have therefore encouraged the informal participation of the political parties. Apparently these parties see municipal elections as prestige events that they have to win, so they unofficially provide the assistance the candidates need (Ibid.).
In a telephone interview, a source at the Carnegie Endowment Foundation in Washington, D.C. corroborated the information provided by the source at the University of Massachusetts (2 Apr. 1993). This source said that some candidates occasionally use the logos and slogans of particular political parties to emphasize their party links, which might be necessary for winning a local body election.
Additional and/or corroborative information on the requested subject could be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB in Ottawa.
References
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington. 2 April 1993. Telephone interview with a spokesperson.
University of Massachusetts, Amherst. 2 April 1993. Telephone interview with a spokesperson.