About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (April 18, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govzjq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Pakistan's Domestic Political Setting Updated April 18, 2019 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 KPk, Punjab, and Sindh), as well as from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas 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 nearly half of its 71 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 being 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 civilian-led 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 explicit or implicit 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 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has never completed a term. 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 now leads a coalition in the Punjab assembly while retaining its majority in KPk. 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 government levels (Punjab is home to more than half of all Pakistanis). Figure I. Major Party Representation in Pakistan's I 5th National Assembly Seated August 2018 P1 46% MQM 22 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 Nawaz Sharif from power and otherwise weakening his incumbent party. 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 the unprecedented participation of small parties with links to banned Islamist terrorist groups was seen to embolden militants (Islamist parties won a combined 10% of the national vote in 2018). ZardarilPPP Era, 2008-2013 After nine years of direct military rule under General Musharraf and just weeks after Benazir Bhutto's 2008 murder, her dynastic Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won a plurality of both votes and NA seats in 2008 elections, and the party went on to lead a sometimes thin coalition government under de facto control of her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who won the presidency later in 2008 and was the country's most powerful politician until his term ended in 2013. Formal civilian governance was restored, although the military continued to wield considerable influence over the country's foreign and national security policies. While in office, the PPP-led coalition reversed many of the constitutional changes implemented by the military government it had replaced, including restoring most executive powers to the prime minister. :/crsreports.congress.gos

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most