Government of Pakistan

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Politics and government

Government of Pakistan (Urdu: حکومتِ پاکستان), The Constitution of Pakistan provides for a Federal Parliamentary System of government, with a President as the Head of State and an indirectly-elected Prime Minister as the chief executive.

About the government

The President of Pakistan is the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, and is elected for a five-year term by the Electoral College of Pakistan - composed of the Senate, the National Assembly, and the four Provincial Assemblies. The President’s appointment and term are constitutionally independent of the Prime Minister’s term. The current President of Pakistan is Pervez Musharraf, who came to power after a military coup on October 12, 1999.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan is usually the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly and is assisted by a cabinet of ministers drawn from both chambers of the federal legislature.

The bicameral federal legislature comprises the 100 member Senate (with seats equally distributed among the provinces and the FATA and the capital) and the 342 member National Assembly. Both the Senate and the National Assembly have seats reserved for women and religious minorities. Senators are elected for six-year terms, with staggered elections every three years, whilst members of the National Assembly are elected for five-year terms. The Constitution provides for the President to address the federal legislature together at the start of the first session after any general elections.

The last National Assembly elections were held in October 2002, and Senate elections in February 2003. One notable outcome was the election of 91 women to Parliament - the largest number and percentage of women in the parliament of any Muslim-majority country.

Each province has a similar government setup with a Provincial Assembly elected for a five-year term through multi-party elections, which in turn elects a Chief Minister - the executive head of the province. The Chief Minister nominates a candidate for the office of Provincial Governor and the Provincial Assembly ratifies the nominee for a five-year term.

Federal government

• President of Pakistan
• Prime Minister of Pakistan
• Leader of the Opposition
• National Security Council
• National Assembly
• Senate
• Federal Ministers
• Federal Government Ministries
• Attorney General
• Judiciary

Provincial governments

• Islamabad Capital Territory
• Government of Punjab
• Government of Sindh
• Government of the North-West Frontier Province
• Government of Balochistan

Local governments

• Divisions (abolished in August 2000)
• Districts
• Tehsils
• Union and Village Councils

Recent developments

On November 3, 2007, President Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution by declaring a state of emergency.

Ministries and divisions

Departments