Elections in Pakistan

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, 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 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 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

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."
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	1970	1985
Awami League
Pakistan Peoples Party
Jamaat-e-Islami
Pakistan Muslim League
PML
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
PML		-
National Awami Party
Pakistan Democratic Party
Independents
Total Seats	-	-
Total seats in State Parliament	300	200
Chief Election Commissioner	Abdus Sattar	Karam Illahi Chohan
Elections under President	Yahya Khan	Zia-ul-Haq
Voter 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, or PML, 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 won 166 seats in the National Assembly and formed the government.

Political parties	1977	1988	1990	1993	1997	2002	2008	2013
Pakistan Peoples Party	155	93	45	89	18	81	124	42
Pakistan Muslim League	8	54	106	73	137	19	91	166
Muttahida Qaumi Movement	0	13	15	0	12	17	25	18
Awami National Party	17	2	6	3	10	0	13	1
Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam	0	7	6	0	2	0	0	10
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	35
Pakistan Muslim League	0	0	0	0	0	118	54	2
Jamaat-e-Islami	11	1	6	3	0	63	0	3
Independents\Others **	8	38	30	42	28	36	21	28
Government	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Government after election	ML	PPP	PML	PPP	PML	PML	PPP	PML
Total Seats	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total seats in State Parliament	200	207	207	207	207	342	340	342
Voter 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. The 'MQM' contested the 1988 elections under the name Muhajir Qaumi Mahaz, it boycotted the 1993 National elections.