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1 1 (August 23, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/goveipf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Pakistan's Domestic Political Setting Updated August 23, 2022 Overview The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy in which the prime minister is head of government and the president is head of state. A bicameral parliament is comprised of a 342-seat National Assembly (NA) and a 104-seat Senate, both with directly elected representatives from each of the country's four provinces (Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or KP, Punjab, and Sindh), as well as from the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (now part of KP) and the Islamabad Capital 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 elected to five-year terms. Senate terms are six years, with elections every three years. Senate powers are limited, and only the NA can approve budget and finance bills. Historically, constitutionalism and parliamentary democracy have fared poorly in Pakistan, marked by tripartite power struggles among presidents, prime ministers, and army chiefs. The country has endured direct military rule for 33 of its 75 years of independence-most recently from 1999 to 2008-interspersed with periods of generally weak civilian governance. Pakistan has had five Constitutions, the most recent ratified in 1973 and significantly modified several times since. The military, usually acting in tandem with the president, has engaged in three outright seizures of power from elected governments: by Army Chiefs General Ayub Khan in 1958, General Zia ul-Haq in 1977, and General Pervez Musharraf in 1999. After 1970, five successive governments were voted into power, but not until 2013 was a government voted out of power-all previous were removed by the army through presidential orders. Of Pakistan's three most prominent prime ministers, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed; his daughter Benazir Bhutto was exiled and later assassinated; and three-time PM Nawaz Sharif was convicted on corruption charges and lives in self-imposed exile. 2018 National and Provincial Elections Elections to seat Pakistan's 15th NA and four provincial assemblies took place as scheduled in July 2018, successfully marking the country's second-ever and consecutive democratic transfer of power. The outcome saw a dramatic end to the decades-long domination of 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 seats (see Figure 1) and, until April 2022, led a coalition in the Punjab assembly while retaining its majority in KP. Party founder and leader Imran Khan was elected prime minister in August 2018 with support from several smaller parties in a PTI-led federal ruling coalition. The Pakistan Muslim League faction of Nawaz Sharif (PML-N) was ousted at both the federal and Punjab provincial levels (Punjab is home to about 60% of Pakistanis). Figure I. Major Party Representation in Pakistan's I 5th National Assembly (until April 2022) All Others 6% MQM 2% MMA5% PPP 16% Seated August 2018 PTI 46% PML-N 25% Source: CRS using data from Election Commission of Pakistan. Voter turnout was a modest 51% (down from 55% in 2013), with campaigning and Election Day marred by lethal terrorist attacks. Many analysts contend that Pakistan's security services covertly manipulated the country's domestic politics before and during the election with a central motive of (again) removing Sharif's party from power and otherwise weakening it. A purported military- judiciary nexus allegedly came to favor Khan's PTI. Election observers and human rights groups issued statements pointing to sometimes severe abuses of democratic norms, and included the participation of parties with links to banned Islamist terrorist groups (Islamist parties won a combined 10% of the national vote in 2018). 2022 Political Upheaval and New Government On March 8, 2022, less than four years after PM Khan had been seated, opposition parties in the NA moved a no- confidence motion against him, accusing him of poor governance and economic mismanagement. This sparked a month-long crisis that resulted in Khan's removal from office on April 10 and the seating of a new government under PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif. Khan, having reportedly lost the support of Pakistan's powerful military, vigorously opposed the no-confidence effort, ultimately asking the president to dissolve the NA (before it could vote), while calling opposition and defecting PTI members traitors and claiming without evidence that the U.S. government had conspired to unseat him. Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled that Khan's actions were illegal, thus restoring the NA and allowing a vote on the motion. A majority of PTI members boycotted the vote-which passed with 174 votes, two more than required-and resigned their seats. New national elections may be held as early as October 2022 and no later than July 2023.

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