List of political parties in Pakistan
is a multi-party democracy. The country has many political parties and many times in past the country is ruled by coalition government. The Parliament of Pakistan is bicameral, consisting of the National Assembly of Pakistan and the Senate. The main political parties in Pakistan are listed below.
Major parties
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
leads Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf under the slogan: "Change".On 25 April 1996, in Lahore, the PTI, a social democratic and Third Way political movement, was founded by Imran Khan.
The PTI boycotted the 2008 elections but became more politically active by 2011.
The PTI claims to represent all Pakistanis regardless of religion, ethnicity, language or residence. It aims to create a modern, egalitarian, Islamic democratic and welfare state. The PTI promotes a nationalist agenda, arguing that terrorism, extremism and radicalism have increased since Pakistan joined the War on Terror.
The Party emerged as country's second most popular party in 2013 elections.
It is currently the ruling party in the country.
In 2018 General Elections, Imran Khan became the Prime Minister of Pakistan and PTI secured 116 seats in National Assembly and made a clean sweep in KPK by taking 63 seats in Provincial Assembly. PTI also formed Government in Punjab, took majority of seats in the largest city of Karachi and collaborated with Government in Balochistan.
Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan
Jamaat-e-Islami,, abbreviated JI, is a socially conservative and Islamist political party based in Pakistan. Its objective is the transformation of Pakistan into an Islamic state, governed by Sharia law, through a gradual legal, and political process. JI strongly opposes capitalism, communism, liberalism, socialism and secularism as well as economic practices such as offering bank interest. It strongly believes in a respectable role of women in society, rather than using women as objects of advertisement.JI is a vanguard party: its members form an elite with "affiliates" and then "sympathizers" beneath them. The party leader is called an ameer. Although it does not have a large popular following, the party is quite influential and considered one of the major Islamic movements in Pakistan, along with Deobandi and Barelvi.Through its welfare wing Al-Khidmat, JI runs several welfare projects including orphan sponsorships, free hospitals & food distribution plans. In times of national emergencies, JI has had a history of keeping aside its political differences from incumbent governments and acting for the benefit of the masses.
The Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan was founded on 26 August 1941 in Lahore, the party was founded by Abul Ala Maududi, a Muslim theologian, and philosopher. It aims to create an Islamic democracy in Pakistan ruled under Sharia law. The JI elects its leader democratically; Siraj ul Haq is the incumbent ameer. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, JI moved its base to West Pakistan. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 it opposed the independence of Bangladesh and in 1975, it established an independent political party in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. JI now has its headquarters in Mansoorah, Lahore. JI has an association with international Muslim groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood. And also called as the peace keeping party of Pakistan.
Pakistan Muslim League – N
is a large Centre-Right, political party of Pakistan, tracing its history to the All-India Muslim League that played a central role in the creation of Pakistan under the leadership of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Pakistan Muslim League re-emerged onto the national political scene in Pakistan as part of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad coalition against the Pakistan Peoples Party in the elections held in 1988.PML-N served two terms in the 1990s with Nawaz Sharif as the Prime Minister. His second term in office was cut short by a military coup d'état led by General Musharraf.
PML-N boycotted the general elections in 2002. In the 2008 elections, PML-N formed government in the province of Punjab. In 2013 elections, the PML-N secured a majority in the National Assembly. It formed government in the center, Punjab and a coalition government in the province of Balochistan, followed by governments in
Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. Nawaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister for the third time in 2013. In the general elections of 2018, PTI completely marginalised it by winning majority of seats and making government in center and three of the provinces.
Pakistan People's Party
On 30 November 1967, the Pakistan Peoples Party, a democratic socialist party, was founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The PPP ran in the 1970 general election with a socialist agenda of Roti, Kapra, Makan. It favoured ties with China over the Western nations and ruled Pakistan after the Fall of Dhaka. After completion of first parliamentary term, the PPP succeeded in the Elections of 1977 but were quickly overthrown by Zia ul Haq. Under Benazir Bhutto, the PPP became a secular party that promoted Social Liberalism as well as privatisation to secure funding from the US and the World Bank. From March 2008 to March 2013, it was leading party of the ruling coalition. Party faced defeat in elections of 2013. The PPP currently holds 41 senate seats and 42 national assembly seats.Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP)
The Pak Sar Zameen Party is a Pakistani political party founded by Syed Mustafa Kamal in 2016. The party is currently led by Mustafa Kamal followed by other members of the party. Syed Mustafa Kamal founded the party on Pakistan Day 2016 at a press conference in Clifton, Karachi. The ceremony was attended by many members even from MQM. PSP had many differences with MQM. Many members from MQM left and joined PSP including Raza Haroon, Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Waseeb Aftab, Ifkhtikar Alam and many others.Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT)
The Pakistan Awami Tehrik is a politically radical, ideologically centrist and religiously moderate political party. Populist sufi cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri is its founding chairman. In 1990, Pakistan Awami Tehrik participated in the national elections just one year after it was founded. In 1991, PAT and TNFJ now known as Tehrik-e-Jafaria signed a 'Communique of Unity' to promote social and religious harmony. PAT enjoys considerable support among religious but moderate lower middle class of the country. The party's entire political influence is based on agitation and public demonstrations. Party's vote bank and electoral power is considered to be limited unlike the PPP or PTI.Barabri Party Pakistan (BPP)
, a political party of masses, was founded by a renowned singer, political activist, social worker and intellectual Jawad Ahmad in 2017. Party's name, Barabri, is Urdu word meaning 'equality' because the fundamental underlying philosophy of the party is equitable distribution of resources and equality of access to opportunities for all citizens of Pakistan regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality or gender.BPP fielded 12 candidates for 5 Provincial and 7 National Assembly, including one woman in 2018 General Elections, all of them belonging to the middle class, working class and youth, against the political stalwarts in the country. Jawad Ahmad himself challenged Imran Khan, Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal Zardari Bhutto representing the three major political parties in Pakistan, in 2018 elections. He believes that these parties represent the elites in the country and election is a form of business for these parties. Jawad Ahmad further elaborates that ninety-nine percent of Pakistan population belongs to the middle and working class and unless candidates representing this ninety-nine percent of the population enter the parliament to work on people-centric legislation, nothing will change and status quo will keep on existing
Slogan
Awami National Party
In 1986, the Awami National Party was founded by Abdul Wali Khan. It is a leftist, secular party that promotes Pashtun nationalism, democratic socialism, public sector government, and economic egalitarianism. It supports ties with Afghanistan, India, and historically the Soviet Union. The ANP held 7 seats in the senate and 3 seats in the National Assembly. Asfandyar Wali Khan, grandson of Bacha Khan is the incumbent president of the ANP. Between 2008 and 2013, it was part of the ruling PPP led coalition. It performs well in Pashtun dominated areas in and around Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Balochistan provinces.Awami Workers Party (AWP)
In November 2012, the Awami Party, Labour Party and Workers Party merged to form the Awami Workers Party in an unprecedented effort to build a genuine Left-wing politics alternative to mainstream political forces in Pakistan. The party's programme was designed to bring together the disparate struggles of workers, peasants, students, women, ethnic, and religious minorities in Pakistan under the banner of a democratic socialist-feminist politics. AWP supports people's struggles around the country, from working with peasants on land rights and water access in Buner, supporting the tenant farmer's movement for land rights in Okara, organizing brick-kiln workers against bonded labor and wage abuse in Punjab, supporting the struggles of textile and power-loom workers in Faisalabad for human wages, social security and improvement in work conditions, organizing peasants and working classes against abuses by elites and for an equitable land distribution in Sindh, standing in solidarity with historically oppressed ethnic groups such as the Baloch, Hazara and multi-lingual communities of Gilgit-Baltistan, to the construction of alliances with trade unions against neoliberal privatization and contract labor across the country. AWP has organized resistance against forced evictions from slums in Islamabad and managed to secure a stay order from the Supreme Court of Pakistan to prevent any further demolitions of slums following the Capital Development Authority's operation that razed the Katchi Abadi in Sector I-11.Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (F)
is an ultra-conservative religious and theocratic party with ideological history of 100 years which, in 2002, formed a ruling coalition with Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and with the PML in Balochistan. It currently holds 17 seats in the National Assembly, 5 seats in the Senate, 17 seats in the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 8 seats in the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan. Its economic policy is socialist and moderate.Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM Pakistan)
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement was founded in 1978 by Altaf Hussain from the student organisation, the All Pakistan Muhajir Student Organization. It is supported by the urban Muhajir community of Sindh. The MQM is socially liberal and democratic. In 1997, the MQM officially removed the term Muhajir, which refers to Urdu-speaking Muslims and replaced it with Muttahida. Between 1992 and 1999, the Pakistan Army, in Operation Cleanup, attempted to suppress the MQM. On 11 September 2001, the MQM condemned attacks by al-Qaida in the US with public demonstrations. Dr Farooq Staar MQM 2018Tehreek e Islami
Tehreek e Islami is an Islamic revolutionary religious and political party of Pakistan. It was founded by the author and Islamic scholar Naeem Siddiqui in 1994 following his exodus from Jamaat-e-Islami in 1993, after the failure of Jamaat e Islami in the politics of Pakistan. Its head office is in Karachi. Its objective is to make Pakistan an Islamic state, governed by Sharia law, through a gradual process. Tehreek e Islami strongly opposes capitalism, liberalism, socialism and secularism as well as economic practices such as offering bank interest. Like Jamaat-e-Islami and Tanzeem-e-Islami its members form an elite with "affiliates" and then "sympathizers" beneath them. The party leader is called an ameer. In 1996, the party split into two groups, one group was led by Naeem Siddiqui himself while the coordinator of the other group was Hafeez ur Rehman Ahsan.Due to the endavour and mediation of some Arab based Pakistani friends both the groups were re-united in 1998,he expressed the story of re-union in a letter to his friend Khwaja Maqbool Ellahi in 2001 by saying that our difference was unique and now our union is also very unique. After the unity of both the groups of the tehreek e Islami Naeem Siddiqui became its spiritual and political Qauid.Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP)
, is a rising Islamic political party with Islamic ideology. The party was founded by preacher Khadim Hussain Rizvi.TLP is known for widespread street power and massive protests in opposition to any change to Pakistan's blasphemy law. The Islamic party came into existence, and subsequently rose to fame, after the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, which the political party states was unjustifiable.
TLP demands that Sharia law be established as law of Pakistan through a gradual legal and political process.
Pakistan Insani Haqooq Party (PIHP)
Pakistan Insani Haqooq Party is a political party founded by Khalid Aftab Sulehri. Khalid Aftab Sulehri founded the party in March 2013. Malik Mir Afzal, Shabbir Akhtar were one of the first members to join the party.The abbreviation of the party is and its symbol is Umbrella.
Pakistan Zindah Abad Movement (PZM)
Current parties
Minor or regional parties
- Communist Party of Pakistan
- Hazara Democratic Party
- Balochistan National Party
- Balochistan National Party
- Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party
- Mazdoor Kisan Party
- Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam
- Mustaqbil Pakistan
- National Party
- National People's Party
- Pakistan Mazdoor Kissan Party
- Pakistan Women Muslim League
- Sindh Democratic Alliance
- Sindh National Front
- Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party
- Sindh United Party
Senate
National Assembly
Members of the PML are marked in bold textElectoral history and performance of PML since 1985
| General elections | Voting percentile % | Voting turnout | Seating graph | Presiding chair of the party | Parliamentary position |
| 1985 | 46.4% | – | |||
| 1988 | 30.2% | 5,908,741 | Fida Mohammad Khan | ||
| 1990 | 37.4% | 7,908,513 | Nawaz Sharif | ||
| 1993 | 39.9% | 7,980,229 | Nawaz Sharif | ||
| 1997 | 45.9% | 8,751,793 | Nawaz Sharif | ||
| 2002 | 12.71% | 3,791,321 | Javed Hashmi | ||
| 2008 | 19.6% | 6,781,445 | Nisar Ali Khan | ||
| 2013 | TBD | TBD | Nawaz Sharif |
Electoral history and performance of PPP since 1970
| General elections | Voting percentile % | Voting turnout | Seating graph | Presiding chair of the party | Parliamentary position | - |
| 1970 | 18.6% | 6,148,923 | Zulfikar Bhutto | - | ||
| 1977 | 61.1% | 10,148,040 | Zulfikar Bhutto | - | ||
| 1985 | Non-participant | – | – | Nusrat Isphani | – | |
| 1988 | 38.5% | 7,546,561 | Benazir Bhutto | - | ||
| 1990 | 36.8% | 7,795,218 | Benazir Bhutto | - | ||
| 1993 | 37.9% | 7,578,635 | Benazir Bhutto | - | ||
| 1997 | 21.8% | 4,152,209 | Benazir Bhutto | - | ||
| 2002 | 25.7% | Amin Fahim | - | |||
| 2008 | 30.6% | 10,606,486 | Benazir Bhutto Yousaf Raza Gillani | - | ||
| 2013 | TBD | TBD | Bilawal Bhutto | - |
Electoral history and performance of JUI-F
| General elections | Voting percentile % | Voting turnout | Seating graph | Presiding Convener of the party | Parliamentary position |
| 1988 | 1.8% | 360,526 | Fazal-ur-Rehman | ||
| 1990 | 2.9% | 622,214 | Fazal-ur-Rehman | ||
| 1993 | 3.2% | 645,278 | Fazal-ur-Rehman | ||
| 1997 | 1.7% | 325,910 | Fazal-ur-Rehman | ||
| 2002 | 11.3% | – | Fazal-ur-Rehman | ||
| 2008 | 2.2% | 772,798 | Fazal-ur-Rehman | ||
| 2013 | TBD | TBD | Fazal-ur-Rehman |
Electoral history and performance of ANP
| General elections | Voting percentile % | Voting turnout | Seating graph | Presiding chair of the party | Parliamentary position |
| 1988 | 2.1% | 409,555 | Abdul Ghaffar Khan | ||
| 1990 | 1.7%% | 356,160 | Abdul Ghaffar Khan | ||
| 1993 | 1.7% | 335,094 | Abdul Vali Khan | ||
| 1997 | 1.9% | 357,002 | Abdul Val Khan | ||
| 2002 | 1.0% | – | Abdul Vali Khan | ||
| 2008 | 2.0% | 700,479 | Asfandyar Vali | ||
| 2013 | TBD | TBD | Asfandyar Vali |
Electoral history and performance of MQM
| General elections | Voting percentile % | Voting turnout | Seating graph | Presiding Convener of the party | Parliamentary position |
| 1985 | 3.9 | 818,962 | Altaf Hussain | ||
| 1988 | Non-participant | – | Imran Farooq | ||
| 1990 | 5.5% | 1,172,525 | Altaf Hussain | ||
| 1993 | Non-participant | – | Altaf Hussain | See: Operation Blue Fox | |
| 1997 | 4.0% | 764,207 | Farooq Sattar | ||
| 2002 | 3.1% | – | Farooq Sattar | ||
| 2008 | 7.4% | 2,507,813 | Babar Ghauri | ||
| 2013 | TBD | TBD | Faisal Sabzwari |