Since establishment in 1947, Pakistan has had a non-symmetric federal government and is a federal parliamentary democratic republic. At the national level, the people of Pakistan elect a bicameral legislature, the Parliament of Pakistan. The parliament consists of a lower house, the National Assembly, elected directly via first-past-the-post voting, and an upper house, the Senate, whose members are chosen by elected provincial legislators. The head of government, the Prime Minister, is elected by the majority members of the National Assembly and the head of state (and figurehead), the President, is elected by the Electoral College, which consists of both houses of Parliament together with the four provincial assemblies. In addition to the national and provincial assemblies, Pakistan has over five thousand elected local governments.
The Election Commission of Pakistan is a constitutionally-established institution chaired by an appointed and designated Chief Election Commissioner, supervising general elections. The Pakistan Constitution guides general elections in Part VIII, Chapter 2 and various amendments. A multi-party system is in effect, with the National Assembly consisting of 342 seats and the Senate consisting of 100 seats (after ex-FATA merger) elected from the four provinces. The Constitution dictates general elections be held every five years, when the National Assembly has completed its term or has been dissolved, and Senatorial elections to be held every six years. By law, general elections must be held within two months of the National Assembly completing its term.
History of elections in Pakistan ElectionPopular VoteSeatsElectoral VoteResult1947 Constituent Assembly election All-India Muslim LeagueLiaquat Ali Khan elected as Prime Minister, Khan ministry formed, 1st Constituent Assembly convenes.1955 Constituent Assembly election -Pakistan Muslim League and United Front404 MLAs elect 72 members.Chaudhri Muhammad Ali elected as Prime Minister, Ali—Huq coalition formed, 2nd Constituent Assembly convenes.1962 General Election -150 members elected 6 reserved seats for women80,000 basic democrats elect 150 member, 150 members elect 6 reserved seats for women.National Assembly convenes.1965 General ElectionCombined Opposition PartiesConvention Muslim LeagueAyub KhanAyub Khan elected as PresidentElectionPopular VoteSeatsResults1970 General ElectionAll-Pakistan Awami LeagueAll-Pakistan Awami LeagueSheikh Mujib is denied his win and Pakistan splits in two.1971 By-electionsThe elections were annulled after the independence of Bangladesh.1977 General electionPakistan People's PartyPakistan People's PartyMass protests due to rigging. General Zia initiates military coup1985 General electionIndependentsIndependentsMuhammad Khan Junejo elected as Prime Minister1988 General electionPakistan People's PartyPakistan People's PartyBenazir Bhutto elected as Prime Minister1990 General electionIslami Jamhoori IttehadIslami Jamhoori IttehadNawaz Sharif elected as Prime Minister1993 General electionPakistan Muslim League (N)Pakistan People's PartyBenazir Bhutto elected as Prime minister1997 General electionPakistan Muslim League (N)Pakistan Muslim League (N)Nawaz Sharif elected as Prime Minister2002 General electionPakistan People's PartyPakistan Muslim League (Q)Hung Parliament, Zafarullah Khan Jamali elected by the National Assembly2008 General ElectionPakistan People's PartyPakistan People's PartyYusuf Raza Gillani elected as Prime Minister2013 General ElectionPakistan Muslim League (N)Pakistan Muslim League (N)Nawaz Sharif elected as Prime Minister2013 by-electionsNational Assembly of Pakistan: PML-N Provincial assemblies of Pakistan: PML-NPML-N gains a solid majority in the National Assembly.2018 General ElectionPTIPTIImran Khan elected as prime minister2018 by-electionsNational Assembly of Pakistan: PTI, Provincial assemblies of Pakistan: PTIPTI suffers losses and is unable to retain many seats. Both opposition and Government make gains.2024 General ElectionPakistan Muslim League (N)Pakistan Muslim League (N)Shehbaz Sharif elected as Prime Minister2024 by-electionsNational Assembly of Pakistan: PML-N Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan: PML-NGovernment coalition gains and SIC-PTI-IND alliance loses seats, no significant changes, status quo maintained.Next Pakistani general election
Past elections Between 1947 and 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 10 and 20 March, 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 universal basis with approximately one-million voters. The turnout remained low: in Lahore, the turnout was 30 percent of the listed voters, and in rural areas of Punjab it was much lower.
On 8 December 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, the general elections were held for the East Pakistan Legislative Assembly, in which the Pakistan Muslim League lost to the pan-Bengali nationalist United Front alliance. Incumbent Prime Minister of East Pakistan Mr. Nurul Amin lost his parliament seat to a veteran student leader and language movement stalwart Khaleque Nawaz Khan in Mr. Amin's home constituency Nandail of Mymensingh district. Nurul Amin's crushing defeat to the United Front alliance effectively eliminates Pakistan Muslim League from the political landscape of the then East Pakistan.
The 1970 Pakistani general election, was the first direct general election after independence of Pakistan from British India. After a decades-long struggle, the military government was forced to transfer power to democratically elected officials. In East Pakistan, the election was portrayed as referendum on self-governance for the Bengali citizens of Pakistan, who made up nearly 55% of Pakistan's population and were yet not given rights consistent with those of West Pakistanis.
The election was won by the Awami League, having 167 seats out of 313, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was to be the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. But the military government, at the request of opposition leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, refused to transfer power to the elected Parliament, causing the beginning of the Bangladesh Liberation War. + Political parties' performances in general elections under military government(s) Political parties 1970 1985Awami League (AL) Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan Muslim League (PML) PML (Council) (PML-C) Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) PML (Convention) (PML (C)) National Awami Party (Wali) (NAP(W)) Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) Independents Total Seats Total seats in State Parliament 300 200Chief Election Commissioner(s) Abdus Sattar Karam Illahi ChohanElections under President(s) Yahya Khan Zia-ul-HaqVoter turnout 63%.0 52.9% All data and calculations are provided by Election Commission of Pakistan as the public domain. The general elections in 1985 were non-partisan general elections, but many technocrats belonged to the one party to another.
General elections from 1977 to 2013 After the Bangladesh Liberation War Pakistan was becoming less autocratic until the 1977 Pakistani military coup after the 1977 Pakistani general election.
In 1988, the general elections were held again which marked the PPP coming in power but dismissed in two years following the lawlessness situation in the country. In 1990, the general elections saw the right-wing alliance forming the government but dismissed in 1993 after the alliance collapsed. The general elections in 1993 saw the PPP forming government after successfully seeking plurality in the Parliament. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto made critical decisions during her era, ranging from working to strengthening the education, defense, foreign policy and pressed her policies hard to implement her domestic program initiatives. Despite her tough rhetoric, Prime Minister Bhutto's own position deteriorated in her native province, Sindh, and lost her support following the death of her younger brother. Tales of high-scale corruption cases also maligned her image in the country and was dismissed from her post by her own hand-picked president in 1996. The 1997 general elections saw the centre-right, Pakistan Muslim League (N), or PML (N), ging the exclusive mandate in the country and supermajority in the parliament. Despite Sharif's popularity in 1998 and popular peace initiatives in 1999, the conspiracy was hatched against Sharif by General Musharraf, who accused Sharif of hijacking the plane and pressed terrorism charges against Sharif in the military courts; thus ending Sharif's government.
Ordered by the Supreme Court, General Musharraf held general election in 2002, preventing Sharif and Benazir Bhutto from keeping the public office. With Zafarullah Jamali becoming the Prime Minister in 2002, he left the office for Shaukat Aziz in 2004. After the deadly 9/11 attacks in the United States and Musharraf's unconditional policy to support the American war in Afghanistan, further damaged Musharraf's credibility in the country. In an unsuccessful attempt to dismiss the Judicial system, Musharraf dramatically fall from power. The 2008 general elections allowed the PPP, assisted by the left-wing alliance, further consolidated in opposition to Musharraf, though it was plagued with loadshedding, law and order situations, foreign policy issues, and poor economic performances. In elections held in 2013, the PML (N) won 166 seats in the National Assembly and formed the government.
+ Political parties performances in General elections since 1977 Political parties 1977 1988 1990 1993 1997 2002 2008 2013 Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 155 93 45 89 18 81 124 42Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML (N)) 8 54 106 73 137 19 91 166Muttahida Qaumi Movement (P) 0 13 15 0 12 17 25 18Awami National Party (ANP) 17 2 6 3 10 0 13 1Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam (F) (JUI(F)) 0 7 6 0 2 0 0 10Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 35Pakistan Muslim League(Q) (PML (Q)) 0 0 0 0 0 118 54 2Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) 11 1 6 3 0 63 0 3 Independents\Others ** 8 38 30 42 28 36 21 28Government Government after election ML PPP PML (N) PPP PML (N) PML (Q) PPP PML (N)Total Seats Total seats in State Parliament 200 207 207 207 207 342 340 342Voter turnout Estimated election voter turnout 63.1% 43.07% 45.46% 40.28% 35.42% 41.08% 44.23% 55.02% All data and calculations are provided by Election Commission of Pakistan as the public domain. All elections were contested under a separate electorate system, the 1990 elections had allegations of vote-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 Muhajir Qaumi Mahaz, it boycotted the 1993 National elections.source Herald Election Guide/October 2002 p38
2008 General Elections