The Government and Political System in Pakistan

Pakistan’s government is a mix of or more appropriately, the result of various circumstances, which has led to its creation. Pakistan was not an independent country before; it only gained independence late in its “life” sometime in the 1980’s which by that time adopted a constitution which created its current government. The Pakistani government is based on contemporary liberal democracies with three branches of government. The Pakistani government is currently a federal parliamentary system, with two executives. The first executive being the president who merely serves as the head of state therefore only possessing ceremonial functions; the second executive (Prime Minister) is the one which truly functions given the function of being the head of government and armed forces. The legislature is bicameral in nature, this would mean that it has a lower and upper house; the lower house being the National Assembly with 342 seats total, 272 of which are directly elected and the upper house being the Senate which is composed of 100 members. The 1985 Pakistani Constitution provides for the composition of the upper and lower house. The third and last branch is the Judiciary with the Supreme Court as the apex of Pakistani law, which is located at Islamabad.

The power of the government is also decentralized into different local government units starting at the Provincial level. The set-up of the Pakistani government was designed to bridge the gap between the administrator and citizen, which would give the citizens the feeling of having a greater hand in the policy making process.