lected by provincial assemblies and the
territories' representatives in the National Assembly to serve
six-year terms; one half are elected every three years) and the
National Assembly (342 seats; 272 members elected by popular vote;
60 seats reserved for women; 10 seats reserved for non-Muslims; to
serve five-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held in March 2006 (next to be held in
March 2009); National Assembly - last held 18 February 2008 (next to
be held in 2013)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by
party - PML 38, MMA 18, PPPP 10, MQM 6, PML-N 4, PKMAP 3, ANP 2,
PPP-S 2, BNP-A 1, BNP-M 1, JWP 1, NA 1, PML-F 1, independents 12;
National Assembly - percent of votes by party - NA; seats by party -
PPPP 121, PML-N 91, PML 54, MQM 25, ANP 13, MMA 6, PML-F 5, BNP-A 1,
NPP 1, PPP-S 1, independents 18; note - as a result of the 27 June
2008 by-election, PML-N gained 3 seats and PPPP gained 2 seats)

Judicial branch:

Supreme Court (justices appointed by the president); Federal Islamic
or Sharia Court

Political parties and leaders:

Awami National Party or ANP [Asfandyar Wali KHAN]; Balochistan
National Party-Hayee Group or BNP-H [Dr. Hayee BALOCH]; Balochistan
National Party-Awami or BNP-A [Moheem Khan BALOCH]; Balochistan
National Party-Mengal or BNP-M [Sardar Ataullah MENGAL]; Jamhoori
Watan Party or JWP; Jamiat Ahle Hadith or JAH [Sajid MIR]; Jamaat-i
Islami or JI [Qazi Hussain AHMED]; Jamiat Ulema-i Islam Fazlur
Rehman or JUI-F [Fazlur REHMAN]; Jamiat Ulema-i Islam Sami-ul HAQ or
JUI-S [Sami ul-HAQ]; Jamiat Ulema-i Pakistan or JUP [Shah Faridul
HAQ]; Muttahida Majlis-e Amal or MMA [Qazi Hussain AHMED]; Muttahida
Qaumi Movement or MQM [Altaf HUSSAIN]; National Alliance or NA
[Ghulam Mustapha JATOI] (merged with PML); National Peoples Party or
NPP; Pakhtun Khwa Milli Awami Party or PKMAP [Mahmood Khan
ACHAKZAI]; Pakistan Awami Tehrik or PAT [Tahir ul QADRI]; Pakistan
Muslim League-Functional or PML-F [Pir PAGARO]; Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz Sharif or PML-N [Nawaz SHARIF]; Pakistan Muslim League
or PML [Chaudhry Shujaat HUSSAIN]; Pakistan Peoples Party-SHERPAO or
PPP-S [Aftab Ahmed Khan SHERPAO]; Pakistan Peoples Party
Parliamentarians or PPPP [Bilawal Bhutto ZARDARI, chairman; Asif Ali
ZARDARI, co-chairman]; Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaaf or PTI [Imran KHAN];
Tehrik-i Islami [Allama Sajid NAQVI]
note: political alliances in Pakistan can shift frequently

Political pressure grou