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Updated April 19, 2022
Pakistan’s Domestic Political Setting
Overview
the Punjab assembly while retaining its majority in KP.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a parliamentary
Party founder and leader Imran Khan was elected prime
democracy in which the prime minister is head of
minister in August 2018 with support from several smaller
government and the president is head of state. A bicameral
parties in a PTI-led federal ruling coalition. The Pakistan
parliament is comprised of a 342-seat National Assembly
Muslim League faction of Nawaz Sharif (PML-N) was
(NA) and a 104-seat Senate, both with directly elected
ousted at both the federal and Punjab provincial levels
representatives from each of the country’s four provinces
(Punjab is home to about 60% of Pakistanis).
(Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or KP, Punjab, and
Sindh), as well as from the former Federally Administered
Figure 1. Major Party Representation in Pakistan’s
Tribal Areas (now part of KP) and the Islamabad Capital
15th National Assembly (until April 2022)
Territory (the quasi-independent regions of Azad Kashmir
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
Source: CRS using data from Election Commission of Pakistan.
elected to five-year terms. Senate terms are six years, with
Voter turnout was a modest 51% (down from 55% in 2013),
elections every three years. Senate powers are limited, and
with campaigning and Election Day marred by lethal
only the NA can approve budget and finance bills.
terrorist attacks. Many analysts contend that Pakistan’s
Historically, constitutionalism and parliamentary
security services covertly manipulated the country’s
democracy have fared poorly in Pakistan, marked by
domestic politics before and during the election with a
tripartite power struggles among presidents, prime
central motive of (again) removing Sharif’s party from
ministers, and army chiefs. The country has endured direct
power and otherwise weakening it. A purported “military-
military rule for 33 of its 75 years of independence—most
judiciary nexus” allegedly came to favor Khan’s PTI.
recently from 1999 to 2008—interspersed with periods of
Election observers and human rights groups issued
generally weak civilian governance. Pakistan has had five
statements pointing to sometimes “severe” abuses of
Constitutions, the most recent ratified in 1973 and
democratic norms, and included the participation of parties
significantly modified several times since. The military,
with links to banned Islamist terrorist groups (Islamist
usually acting in tandem with the president, has engaged in
parties won a combined 10% of the national vote in 2018).
three outright seizures of power from elected governments:
by Army Chiefs General Ayub Khan in 1958, General Zia
2022 Political Upheaval and New Government
ul-Haq in 1977, and General Pervez Musharraf in 1999.
On March 8, 2022, less than four years after PM Khan had
After 1970, five successive governments were voted into
been seated, opposition parties in the NA moved a no-
power, but not until 2013 was a government voted out of
confidence motion against him, accusing him of poor
power—all previous were removed by the army through
governance and economic mismanagement. This sparked a
presidential orders. Of Pakistan’s three most prominent
month-long crisis that resulted in Khan’s removal from
prime ministers, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed; his
office on April 10 and the seating of a new government
daughter Benazir Bhutto was exiled and later assassinated;
under PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif. Khan, having
and three-time PM Nawaz Sharif was convicted on
reportedly lost the support of Pakistan’s powerful military,
corruption charges and lives in self-imposed exile.
vigorously opposed the no-confidence effort, ultimately
asking the president to dissolve the NA (before it could
2018 National and Provincial Elections
vote), while calling opposition and defecting PTI members
Elections to seat Pakistan’s 15th NA and four provincial
“traitors” and claiming without evidence that the U.S.
assemblies took place as scheduled in July 2018,
government had conspired to unseat him. Pakistan’s
successfully marking the country’s second-ever and
Supreme Court ruled that Khan’s actions were illegal, thus
consecutive democratic transfer of power. The outcome saw
restoring the NA and allowing a vote on the motion. A
a dramatic end to the decades-long domination of
majority of PTI members boycotted the vote—which
Pakistan’s national politics by two dynastic parties, as the
passed with 174 votes, two more than required—and
relatively young Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI or
resigned their seats. New national elections may be held as
Movement for Justice) party swept a large plurality of NA
early as October 2022 and no later than July 2023.
seats (see Figure 1) and, until April 2022, led a coalition in
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Pakistan’s Domestic Political Setting
Background: Zardari/PPP Era, 2008-2013
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Lt.
After nine years of direct military rule under General
General Nadeem Anjum, recently the commander of V
Musharraf and just weeks after Benazir Bhutto’s 2008
Corp, began his three-year appointment in November 2021.
murder, her dynastic Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won a
Leading Parties
plurality of both votes and NA seats in 2008 elections, and
the party went on to lead a sometimes thin coalition
The following five parties won 89% of NA seats in 2018:
government under de facto control of her widower, Asif Ali
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), founded by Imran Khan
Zardari, who won the presidency later in 2008 and was the
country’s most powerful politician until his term ended in
in 1996, is centrist and nationalist in orientation, with
anticorruption as its flagship campaign issue. In 2013,
2013. Formal civilian governance was restored, with most
Khan, a former cricket superstar, saw his PTI win a
executive powers returning to the prime minister.
majority of provincial assembly seats in the Pashtun-
Background: Sharif/PML-N Era, 2013-2018
majority KP province, where it has seen a mixed
The 2013 national elections saw Sharif’s PML
governance record. Khan has been a vocal critic of the
-N win an
United States and is viewed by some as sympathetic toward
outright majority (56%) of NA seats, defeating both the
Islamist militants. Until April 2022, the PTI held 155 NA
incumbent PPP and a new national-level challenge from
Khan’s PTI
seats—almost half of them from the Punjab heartland—
, which surged into prominence after 2011. The
won nearly 32% of the 2018 vote nationally, led a national
PML-N’s mandate was a Punjabi one—90% of its seats
ruling coalition, and continues to run the KP province
came from that province. Nawaz’s third term as PM ended
(under Chief Minister Mahmood Khan).
abruptly in 2017 when he was barred from holding office
after convictions for tax evasion and willful nondisclosure
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was
of overseas assets. Many observers called Sharif’s removal
established in 1993 by then-Prime Minister Sharif as an
a “soft coup” orchestrated by the military. A PML-N
offshoot of the country’s oldest party and the only major
loyalist served his term’s final 10 months.
party existing at the time of independence. With a center-
right orientation and home to many religious conservatives,
Background: Khan/PTI Era, 2018-2022
its core constituency is in Punjab. Under Shabaz Sharif’s
Prime Minister Khan had no governance experience prior to
campaign leadership the PML-N won 81 NA seats with
winning office. His “Naya [New] Pakistan” vision—which
over 24% of the 2018 vote, and it led the national
animated many younger, urban, middle-class voters—
opposition alliance until Khan’s April 2022 removal, when
emphasized anticorruption and creation of a “welfare state,”
Shahbaz’s son, Hamza, became Punjab Chief Minister.
but the latter effort foundered due to the country’s acute
financial crises. Most analysts saw Pakistan’s military
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was established in 1967 by
establishment continuing to retain dominant influence over
former PM Z.A. Bhutto. Democratic socialist and home to
foreign and security policies.
many so-called “secularists,” its main constituency is in
Key Government Officials
Sindh, where it continues to run the provincial government
(under Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah). PPP
Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif, the younger brother of
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is the son of former
former PM Nawaz Sharif, served as Punjab Chief Minister
President Asif Zardari and former PM Benazir Bhutto. The
for 10 years before becoming PML-N leader (and NA
PPP won 54 NA seats with 13% of the 2018 vote and, since
Opposition Leader) in 2018 after his brother’s expulsion
April 2022, is part of the national ruling coalition.
from politics. Generally seen as a popular and effective
administrator, Sharif took office in April 2022.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) is a coalition of five
conservative Islamist parties, most notably the Jamiat
Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammed Asif, a Punjabi
Ulema-e-Islam–Fazl-ur (JUI-F) led by cleric Fazl-ur
PML-N stalwart, was defense minister and then foreign
Rehman since 1988, ideologically similar to the Afghan
minister from 2013-2018, taking office again in April 2022.
Taliban and with links to Pakistani militant groups. Rehman
is able to generate considerable “street power” and led a
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah was a longtime Punjab
major 2019 protest movement. The MMA won 15 NA
provincial minister before winning an NA seat in 2018 and
seats—all of them from KP and Baluchistan—with nearly
taking the interior portfolio in April 2022.
5% of the 2018 vote.
Finance Minister Mifta Ismail, a U.S.-educated political
Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) is a regional party
economist from Karachi, joined the PML-N in 2011 and
established by descendants of pre-partition immigrants
held the finance portfolio briefly in 2018 before returning to
(Muhajirs) from what is now India. Secular and focused on
the position in April 2022.
provincial issues, its core support is mainly in Karachi and
Foreign Affairs Minister (State) Hina Rabbani Khar,
other Sindhi urban centers. The MQM won 7 NA seats with
from a prominent Punjabi family, joined the PPP in 2008
about 1.4% of the 2018 vote, and had been part of the PTI-
and from 2011-2013 served as Pakistan’s first-ever female
led ruling coalition until its April 2022 defection.
foreign minister, returning to the position in April 2022.
Sources: Government of Pakistan agencies; party websites
Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa began his
K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs
three-year appointment in November 2016; in August 2019,
this was extended by PM Khan for another three years. He
IF10359
is widely described as being professional and nonpolitical.
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Pakistan’s Domestic Political Setting
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