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1 1 (November 2, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govenjh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service nforming qh IiiI gisIative debate since 1914 Pakistan's Domestic Political Setting Updated November 2, 2023 Overview The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy in which the prime minister (PM) is head of government and the president is head of state. The bicameral parliament is comprised of a 342-seat National Assembly (NA) and a 104-seat Senate. Both have 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). Representatives are elected from 272 districts; the NA reserves 60 seats for women and 10 seats for religious minorities on a proportional basis. The prime minister is elected to by the NA. The president, with a largely ceremonial role, is elected to a five-year term by an Electoral College comprised of both chambers of parliament and members 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 76 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 Gen. Ayub Khan in 1958, Gen. Zia ul-Haq in 1977, and Gen. 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 directly by the army or 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 lived in self-imposed exile from 2019 until his October 2023 return. 20 18 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 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 provincial assembly while retaining the majority it won in KP in 2013. 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 Other s 6% MQM 2% M MA 5% PPP 16% SeatedAugust 2018 P-I 46% PML-N 25% Source: CRS using data from Election Commission of Pakistan. Note: MMA: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal; MQM: Muttahida Qaumi Movement; PML-N: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz; PPP: Pakistan People's Party; PTI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. 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 and judiciary came to favor Khan's PTI over Sharif's PML-N, and covertly manipulated the country's domestic politics before and during the election to (again) remove Sharif's party from power. Election observers and human rights groups identified sometimes severe abuses of democratic norms, and candidates from parties with links to banned Islamist terrorist groups were allowed to participate (Islamist parties won a combined 10% of the national vote in 2018). Political Upheaval and New Government A late 2021 power struggle between PM Khan and the then- Army Chief over the appointment of a new intelligence director may have contributed to the security establishment withdrawing its support for Khan. In early 2022, opposition parties moved a no-confidence motion against Khan, accusing him of poor governance and economic mismanagement. The motion narrowly passed in April 2022 and Khan was removed from office. The NA then seated a new government under PML-N leader Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz's younger brother, in alliance with the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and others among the 13-member Pakistan Democratic Movement. Khan, who still commands widespread popular support, denounced his removal, blaming it (without providing detailed evidence) on alleged machinations by the U.S. government and/or Pakistan Army leadership, both current and former. He and his party demanded new elections.

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