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Updated March 5, 2020
Pakistan’s Domestic Political Setting
Overview
seats (see Figure 1) and now leads a coalition in the Punjab
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a parliamentary
assembly while retaining its majority in KPk. Party founder
democracy in which the prime minister is head of
and leader Imran Khan was elected prime minister in
government and the president is head of state. A bicameral
August 2018 with support from several smaller parties in a
parliament is comprised of a 342-seat National Assembly
PTI-led federal ruling coalition. The Pakistan Muslim
(NA) and a 104-seat Senate, both with directly elected
League faction of Nawaz Sharif (PML-N) was ousted at
representatives from each of the country’s four provinces
both the federal and Punjab government levels (Punjab is
(Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or KPk, Punjab, and
home to more than half of all Pakistanis).
Sindh), as well as from the former Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (now part of KPk) and the Islamabad Capital
Figure 1. Major Party Representation in Pakistan’s
Territory (the quasi-independent regions of Azad Kashmir
15th National Assembly
and Gilgit-Baltistan have no representation). The NA
reserves 60 seats for women and 10 seats for religious
minorities on a proportional basis, meaning only 272
districts elect representatives. The prime minister is elected
to an indeterminate term by the NA. The president is
elected to a five-year term by an Electoral College
comprised of both chambers of Parliament, as well as
members of each of the country’s four provincial
assemblies. NA and provincial assembly members are
elected to five-year terms. Senate terms are six years, with
Source: CRS using data from Election Commission of Pakistan.
elections every three years. Senate powers are limited, and
only the NA can approve budget and finance bills.
Voter turnout was a modest 51% (down from 55% in 2013),
with campaigning and Election Day marred by lethal
Historically, constitutionalism and parliamentary
terrorist attacks. Many analysts contend that Pakistan’s
democracy have fared poorly in Pakistan, marked by
security services covertly manipulated the country’s
tripartite power struggles among presidents, prime
domestic politics before and during the election with a
ministers, and army chiefs. The country has endured direct
central motive of (again) removing Nawaz Sharif from
military rule for nearly half of its 72 years of
power and otherwise weakening his incumbent party. A
independence—most recently from 1999 to 2008—
purported “military-judiciary nexus” allegedly came to
interspersed with periods of generally weak civilian
favor Khan’s PTI. Election observers and human rights
governance. Pakistan has had five Constitutions, the most
groups issued statements pointing to sometimes “severe”
recent being ratified in 1973 (and significantly modified
abuses of democratic norms, and the unprecedented
several times since). The military, usually acting in tandem
participation of small parties with links to banned Islamist
with the president, has engaged in three outright seizures of
terrorist groups was seen to embolden militants (Islamist
power from civilian-led governments: by Army Chiefs
parties won a combined 10% of the national vote in 2018).
General Ayub Khan in 1958, General Zia ul-Haq in 1977,
and General Pervez Musharraf in 1999. After 1970, five
Zardari/PPP Era, 2008-2013
successive governments were voted into power, but not
After nine years of direct military rule under General
until 2013 was a government voted out of power—all
Musharraf and just weeks after Benazir Bhutto’s 2008
previous were removed by the army through explicit or
murder, her dynastic Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won a
implicit presidential orders. Of Pakistan’s three most
plurality of both votes and NA seats in 2008 elections, and
prominent prime ministers, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was
the party went on to lead a sometimes thin coalition
executed; his daughter Benazir Bhutto was exiled and later
government under de facto control of her widower, Asif Ali
assassinated; and three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Zardari, who won the presidency later in 2008 and was the
has never completed a term and lives in self-imposed exile.
country’s most powerful politician until his term ended in
2013. Formal civilian governance was restored, although
2018 National and Provincial Elections
the military continued to wield considerable influence over
Elections to seat Pakistan’s 15th NA and four provincial
the country’s foreign and national security policies. While
assemblies took place as scheduled in July 2018,
in office, the PPP-led coalition reversed many of the
successfully marking the country’s second-ever and
constitutional changes implemented by the military
consecutive democratic transfer of power. The outcome saw
government it had replaced, including restoring most
a dramatic end to the decades-long domination of
executive powers to the prime minister.
Pakistan’s national politics by two dynastic parties, as the
relatively young Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI or
Movement for Justice) party swept a large plurality of NA
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Pakistan’s Domestic Political Setting
Sharif/PML-N Era, 2013-2018
Leading Parties
The 2013 national elections saw Sharif’s PML-N win an
The following five parties won 89% of NA seats in 2018:
outright majority (56%) of NA seats, defeating both the
incumbent PPP and a new national-level challenge from
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was founded by Imran
Khan’s PTI, which surged into prominence after 2011. The
Khan in 1996. Centrist and nationalist in orientation, with
PML-N’s historic mandate was a Punjabi one—more than
anticorruption as its flagship campaign issue, the party won
90% of the party’s NA seats were from that province,
numerous prominent converts after 2011. Although Khan
where Nawaz’s brother Shabaz was chief minister. Nawaz
had been a cricket superstar, “jet-setting playboy,” and
saw his third prime ministerial term end abruptly in July
philanthropist, he led the PTI in relative political obscurity
2017, when he was barred from holding office by the
for more than 16 years before emerging as a major player
Supreme Court for tax evasion and willful nondisclosure of
early this decade. In 2013, his party won a majority of
significant overseas assets (he was convicted and jailed just
provincial assembly seats in the Pashtun-majority KPk
weeks before the 2018 elections). Many observers called
province, where it has seen a mixed governance record.
Sharif’s removal a “soft coup” orchestrated by the military.
Khan has been a vehement critic of the United States in the
A PML-N loyalist served his term’s final 10 months.
past and has been viewed by some as sympathetic toward
Islamist militants. The PTI holds 149 NA seats—almost
Khan/PTI Era, 2018-Present
half of them from the Punjab heartland—won nearly 32%
Prime Minister Khan had no governance experience prior to
of the 2018 vote nationally, leads both the Federal and
winning his current office. His “Naya [New] Pakistan”
Punjab ruling coalitions (the latter under Chief Minister
vision—which appeared to animate many younger, urban,
Sardar Uzman Buzdar), and continues to run the KPk
middle-class voters—emphasizes anticorruption and
province (under Chief Minister Mahmood Khan).
creation of a “welfare state” that provides better education
and health care, but the latter effort has foundered due to
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was
the country’s acute financial crisis, and a need for new
established in 1993 by then-Prime Minister Sharif as an
offshoot of the country’s oldest party and the only major
foreign borrowing and government austerity. Most analysts
see Pakistan’s military establishment continuing to retain
party existing at the time of independence. With a center-
dominant influence over foreign and security policies.
right orientation and home to many religious conservatives,
its core constituency is in Punjab province. Under Shabaz
Key Government Officials
Sharif’s campaign leadership the PML-N won 81 NA seats
Prime Minister Imran Khan, an Oxford-educated Pashtun
with over 24% of the 2018 vote, and it leads the national
from Lahore, played cricket professionally for decades
opposition alliance.
before entering politics, and led in establishing a cancer
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
hospital and technical college in Punjab.
was established in 1967 by
former Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto. Democratic socialist
Foreign Affairs Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a
and home to many so-called “secularists,” its main
prominent Punjabi politician and PTI Vice Chairman,
constituency is in Sindh, where it continues to run the
served as foreign minister in a PPP-led government from
provincial government (under Chief Minister Syed Murad
2008 before joining PTI in 2011.
Ali Shah). The PPP Chairman is Bilawal Bhutto Zardari,
son of former President Asif Zardari and former PM
Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, a U.S.-educated
Benazir Bhutto. The PPP won 54 NA seats with 13% of the
economist and politician from Sindh, held the same position
2018 vote, and is part of the national opposition alliance.
from 2010 to 2013, and was appointed in April 2019.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) is a coalition of five
Defense Minister Pervez Khattak, a Pashtun from KPk’s
conservative Islamist parties, most notably the Jamiat
Nowshera district and former PTI Secretary General, was
Ulema-e-Islam–Fazl-ur (JUI-F), a Deobandi party led by
KPk chief minister from 2013 to 2018.
cleric Fazl-ur Rehman since 1988, ideologically similar to
the Afghan Taliban and with links to Pakistani militant
Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa began his
groups. Rehman is notably able to generate considerable
three-year appointment in November 2016; in August 2019,
“street power” and led a major 2019 protest movement. The
this was extended by PM Khan for another three years. He
MMA won 15 NA seats—all of them from KPk and
is widely described as being professional and nonpolitical.
Baluchistan provinces—with nearly 5% of the 2018 vote,
and is part of the national opposition alliance.
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Lt.
General Faiz Hamid, previously the ISI’s internal security
Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) is a regional party
chief, received his third star in April 2019 and began his
established by descendants of pre-partition immigrants
three-year appointment in June.
(Muhajirs) from what is now India. Secular and focused on
provincial issues, its core support is mainly limited to
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed notably joined the
Karachi. The MQM won 7 NA seats with about 1.4% of the
unanimous 2017 ruling that disqualified then-PM Sharif,
2018 vote, and is part of the PTI-led ruling coalition.
and has led the Supreme Court since December 2019.
Sources: Government of Pakistan agencies; party websites
President Arif Alvi, a founding PTI member, was elected
to the now largely ceremonial position in September 2018.
K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs
IF10359
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Pakistan’s Domestic Political Setting
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