Editorial:
Pakistan’s electoral design is built to fail. According to PIDE research, the average tenure of a Pakistani Prime Minister is a dismal 2 years and 10 months, driven by a First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system that grants total authority to parties representing a fraction of the electorate.
- Minority Rule: PML-N (2013) and PTI (2018) formed governments with just 32.8% and 31.8% of the vote, relying on fragile coalitions to rule over an unrepresented majority.
- Autocratic Ticket Control: Party leaders unilaterally distribute election tickets and fill reserved seats for women and minorities (Articles 51 and 106), sidelining merit and intra-party democracy.
- Systemic Friction: Ineffective oversight, political interference, and candidates contesting multiple seats inflate election costs and delay government formation.
Path to Reform To break this cycle of political volatility, Pakistan must overhaul its electoral architecture:
- 4-Year Terms: Reduce parliament’s constitutional term from 5 to 4 years to enforce earlier democratic accountability.
- Staggered Elections: Shift to a model where elections occur yearly for different government tiers, maintaining institutional continuity and preventing winner-take-all power grabs.
Without dismantling the FPTP system and democratizing party structures, Pakistan will remain trapped in perpetual political instability.
