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At the national level, Pakistan elects a bicameral legislature, the Parliament of Pakistan, which consists of a directly-elected National Assembly of Pakistan and a Senate whose members are chosen by elected provincial legislators. The Prime Minister of Pakistan is elected by the National Assembly. The President of Pakistan is elected by the Electoral College of Pakistan, which consists of both houses of Parliament together with the provincial assemblies.
In addition to the National Parliament and the provincial assemblies, Pakistan also has more than five thousand elected local governments.
Pakistan has a multi-party system, with numerous parties. Frequently, no single party has a majority, and parties must ally with each other during elections, and then negotiate with other parties to form coalition governments.
Recent Elections
Presidential election, 2004
On January 1, 2004, Pervez Musharraf won 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, was "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007. (See Pakistan Gives Musharraf Confidence Vote as President; New York Times; January 1, 2004)
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Prime-Ministerial election, 2004
Shaukat Aziz was elected Prime Minister on August 27, 2004, by a vote of 191 to 151 in the National Assembly of Pakistan, and was sworn in on August 28, 2004.
Parliamentary elections and composition
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Template:Pakistan legislative election, 2002
Electoral history
Election of 1947 - 1958
In the period between 1947-1958, there were no direct elections held in Pakistan at the national level. Provincial elections were held occasionally. The West Pakistan provincial elections were described as "a farce, a mockery and a fraud upon the electorate" (Report of the Electoral Reforms Commission, Government of Pakistan 1956).
The first direct elections held in the country after independence were for the provincial Assembly of the Punjab between March 10-20 1951. The elections were held for 197 seats. As many as 939 candidates contested the election for 189 seats, while the remaining seats were filled unopposed. Seven political parties were in the race. The election was held on an adult franchise basis with about a million voters. The turnout remained low. In Lahore, the turnout was 30 per cent of the listed voters and in rural areas of Punjab it was much lower.
On December 8 1951, the North West Frontier Province held elections for Provincial legislature seats. In a pattern that would be repeated throughout Pakistan's electoral history, many of those who lost accused the winners of cheating and "rigging" the elections. Similarly, in May 1953 elections to the provincial legislature of Sindh were held and they were also marred by accusations of rigging. In April 1954, elections were held for the East Pakistan Legislative Assembly, in which the Pakistan Muslim League lost, and Bengali nationalists won.
1970 General & Provincial Elections
Pakistan's first general elections were held in 1970 during the Military regime of Yahya Khan. The government claimed that these elections had a high level of public particpation and a turnout of almost 63%.
Twenty-four political parties participated in the elections. The total number of registered voters in the country was 56,941,500 out of which 31,211,220 were from the Eastern Wing, while 25,730,280 from the Western Wing.
A total of 1,957 candidates filed nomination papers for 300 National Assembly seats. After scrutiny and withdrawals, 1,579 eventually contested the elections. Awami League ran 170 candidates, of which 162 were for constituencies in East Pakistan. The party that ran the second-highest number of candidates was Jamaat-i-Islami. It filed nomination papers for 151 candidates. The Pakistan Peoples Party ran only 120 candidates, of which 103 were from constituencies in the Punjab and Sindh. The Pakistan Peoples Party had no candidates in East Pakistan. The Convention Muslim League ran 124 candidates, the Council Muslim League 119 and the Qayyum Muslim League 133. The polls in East Pakistan, originally scheduled for October, were delayed by disastrous floods in that region, and rescheduled for December, and in some cases, January.
Party Position 1970 Elections
| Party | Punjab | Sind | NWFP | Balochistan | West Pakistan | East Pakistan | Total |
| Awami League | 0 (0.07%) | 0 (0.07%) | 0 (0.2%) | 0 (1.0%) | 0 | 160 (74.9%) | 160 (38.3%) |
| Pakistan Peoples Party | 62(41.6%) | 18(44.9%) | 1(14.2%) | 0 (2.3%) | 81 | 0 | 81 (19.5%) |
| PML (Q) | 1(5.4%) | 1(10.7%) | 7(22.6%) | 0(10.9%) | 9 | 0(1.0%) | 9 (4.5%) |
| PML (Convention) | 7(5.1%) | 0(1.7%) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0(2.8%) | 7(3.3%) |
| Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam | 0(5.2%) | 0(4.3%) | 6(25.4%) | 1(20.0%) | 7 | 0(0.9%) | 7(4.0%) |
| Markazi Jamiat-Ulema-Pakistan | 4(9.8%) | 3(7.4%) | 0(0%) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 (4.0%) |
| National Awami Party(Wali) | 0 | 0(0.3%) | 3(18.4%) | 3(45.1%) | 6 | 0(1.8%) | 6(2.3%) |
| Jamaat-e-Islami | 1(4.7%) | 2(10.3%) | 1(7.2%) | 0(1.1%) | 4 | 0(6.0%) | 4(6.0%) |
| PML (Council) | 2(12.6%) | 0(6.8%) | 0(4.0%) | 0(10.9%) | 2 | 0(1.6%) | 2 (6.0%) |
| PDP | 0(2.2%) | 0(0.04%) | 0(0.3%) | 0(0.3%) | 0 | 1(2.2%) | 1(2.9%) |
| Independents | 5(11.8%) | 3(10.7%) | 7(6.0%) | 0(6.8%) | 15 | 1(3.4%) | 16(7.1%) |
| Total seats | 82 | 27 | 25 | 4 | 138 | 162 | 300 |
Provincial Party Position 1970 Elections
| Party | Punjab | Sind | NWFP | Balochistan | West Pakistan | East Pakistan | Total |
| Awami League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 288 | 288 |
| Pakistan Peoples Party | 113 | 28 | 3 | 0 | 144 | 0 | 8 |
| PML (Qayyum) | 6 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 24 | 0 | 24 |
| PML (Convention) | 15 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 22 |
| JUI | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| MJUP | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| NAP(W) | 0 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 1 | 22 |
| JI | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| PML (Council) | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| PDP | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Others | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Ind | 28 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 53 | 7 | 60 |
| Total seats | 180 | 60 | 40 | 20 | 300 | 300 | 600 |
(Source G.W.Choudhury (1974) The last days of United Pakistan p128-129)
The Awami League emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly by winning 160 seats in the National Assembly. It won 288 of the 300 East Pakistan Assembly seats. However, the party won no seats in the four Provincial Assemblies of West Pakistan. The Pakistan Peoples Party won 81 of 138 West Pakistan seats in the National Assembly. The party also performed well in the Provincial Assembly polls of the Punjab and Sindh Assemblies.
In these elections, the so-called "rightist" parties were said to be completely routed, perhaps because of the division of votes among several candidates on almost every seat: the Qayyum Muslim League, Council Muslim League, Convention Muslim League, Jamiyat-i-Ulema-i-Islam, Jamiyat-i-Ulema-i-Pakistan and Jamaat-i-Islami combined won only 37 National Assembly seats. The National Awami Party and Jamiyat-i-Ulema-i-Islam emerged as the prominent parties in the N.W.F.P and Balochistan Assemblies.
1977 General Elections
On January 7, 1977, Prime Minister Bhutto announced snap elections, and the general elections to the provincial and national assemblies were held on March 7 and 10 1977, respectively. To many, the quick election date idea was arranged as not to give sufficient time to the opposition in order to make decisions and arrangements for the forthcoming elections. The total registered voters in the country were 30,899,052.
On January 11 1977, all major and some minor opposition parties had cobbled together an electoral alliance, the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA), to contest elections against Bhutto’s PPP.
The official turnout figure was 63 percent – if 19 uncontested seats were discounted, the turnout was 80 percent (the PNA boycotted the Balochistan elections because of the at the time ongoing military operation). The PPP won 58.1 percent of all the votes that were cast, and 136 of the 173 contested NA seats. The PNA won only 35.1 per cent of the vote and 36 seats. PPP had already won 19 NA seats unopposed including the home seat of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Larkana. The PNA levelled allegations of massive rigging in the polling and boycotted the provincial elections (for more see Pakistan National Alliance ).
Seats Won in the 1977 Elections
| Party | Punjab | Sind | NWFP | Balochistan | Islamabad | Tribal Areas | Total |
| Pakistan Peoples Party | 107 (93%) | 32 (74%) | 8 (31%) | 7 (100%) | 1 (100%) | 0 | 115 (77.5%) |
| Pakistan National Alliance | 8 (7%) | 11 (26%) | 17 (65%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 (18%) |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 1 (4%) | 0 | 0 | 8 (100%) | 9(4.5%) |
| Total Seats | 115 | 43 | 26 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 200 |
Source: Overseas Weekly Dawn (March 13, 1977), reprinted in Shahid Javed Burki, Pakistan under Bhutto, 1971–1977 (London, 1980), 196.
National Assembly General Elections of (1988-1997)
| Party | 1988 | 1990 | 1993 | 1997 |
| Pakistan Peoples Party | 93 | 44 | 89 | 18 |
| Islami Jamhoori-Ittihad (IJI) | 54 | 106 | 0 | 0 |
| Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) | - | - | 73 | 137 |
| Awami National Party | 2 | 6 | 3 | 10 |
| Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)* | 13 | 15 | - | 12 |
| Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam (Fazlur Rehman) | 7 | 6 | - | 2 |
| Other Parties/Indepenents ** | 38 | 30 | 42 | 28 |
| Total Turnout | 43.07% | 45.46% | 40.28 | 35.42 |
| Total Seats | 207 | 207 | 207 | 207 |
N.B: All elections were contested under a separate electorate system, the 1990 elections had allegations of rigging confirmed by foreign observers for more information. See "How an election was stolen" The Pakistan Democratic Alliance White paper on the Pakistan elections held in 1990. It was published by the weekly MID Asia, Islamabad 1991. The MQM contested the 1988 elections under the name Haq Parast group, it boycotted the 1993 National elections.
(source Herald Election Guide/October 2002 p38)
See also
- Senate of Pakistan
- National Assembly of Pakistan
- President of Pakistan
- Prime Minister of Pakistan
- Speaker of National Assembly
- Deputy Speaker of National Assembly
- List of political parties in Pakistan
- Provincial Assembly of the Balochistan
- Provincial Assembly of the Punjab
- Provincial Assembly of the Sindh