Pakistan elections 2024: Which are the major political parties?
On Thursday, Pakistan, a nation of nearly 250 million people, will vote to elect a national government and members of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.
The vote comes amid a crackdown on former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and a fluid political climate.
Like most major democracies, Pakistan’s political parties span a spectrum of ideologies.
Here are the country’s major parties — including those that have been in power nationally, others that have significant regional or local influence and still others that are smaller yet reflect the diverse issues and challenges that Pakistan confronts.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN)
![Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, centre, addresses a campaign rally in Hafizabad, Pakistan [KM Chaudary/AP Photo]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/AP24018464899392-1706862091.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, a centrist party led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, came to power for the third time in 2013 with a clear majority.
But Sharif, 74, was removed from office in 2017, unable to complete his term in office due to an array of corruption charges against him. Along with his daughter, Maryam, he was sentenced to jail for 10 years in 2018, days before the last national election.
Shehbaz Sharif, 72, Nawaz’s younger brother and former chief minister of the party’s political stronghold, Punjab, took office as prime minister in 2022. That was after the PMLN, as part of an alliance known as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), toppled Khan and his government in a vote of no-confidence. Khan had come to power in 2018.
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