+ Direct-seat party position Party Party Party Seats Party Seats PPP 94 JUI(F) 7 IJI 55 PAI 3 Independents 40 ANP 2 BNA 2 NPP (Khar Group) 1 PDP 1 JUP (D) 1 Total = 206
The 8th National Assembly of Pakistan was the legislature of Pakistan following the 1988 Pakistani general election, which restored party-based parliamentary politics at the federal level after the 1985 non-party election. The Assembly was the lower house of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura, and had a total strength of 237 members: 207 general seats, 20 reserved seats for women elected by the Assembly itself, and 10 seats for non-Muslim minorities.
The first session of the Assembly was convened on 30 November 1988. Benazir Bhutto took oath as prime minister on 2 December 1988, becoming the first woman to head the government of Pakistan and of a Muslim-majority state. Meraj Khalid was elected Speaker of the National Assembly on 3 December 1988, while Ashraf Khatoon Abbasi was elected Deputy Speaker. Abdul Wali Khan served as Leader of the Opposition during the life of the Assembly.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged as the largest bloc in the direct election, while MQM-backed candidates running as independents swept much of urban Sindh and became pivotal to government formation. The Assembly was dissolved by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan under Article 58(2)(b) on 6 August 1990, bringing the first Bhutto government to an end.
General seats The following table of general seat members is sourced from the National Assembly: