Pakistan’s Elections 2013: The Key Players

It was recently announced the date for Pakistan’s general elections will be 11th May 2013. The PPP government has already been dissolved as per the constitutional dictates of a government’s tenure completion and a caretaker government set-up is being put in place. With the country increasingly beset by political, economic and social problems that have virtually made it an isolated actor on the international stage, these elections come at a crucial time for it.  Pakistan is a democratic parliamentary republic running on a federal multi-party system. The Parliament of the country consists of an upper house, the Senate and a lower house, the National Assembly consisting of 342 seats, 272 of which are directly elected with 60 reserved for women and 10 for religious minorities, the National Assembly is elected for a five-year period based on adult-franchise and one-man one-vote.  Although a total of 230 political parties are officially registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan, there are mainly a handful out of those which are really at the forefront of the electoral race to form, be a part of Pakistan’s next government or sit in opposition to it. The following are their profiles:  1. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)  Founded [...]