The Prime Minister is elected by the National Assembly, members of which are elected by popular vote. Most commonly, the leader of the party or coalition with the most votes becomes the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is responsible for appointing a cabinet as well as running the government operations. The Seventeenth Amendment imposed a check on this power, making it subject to Supreme Court approval or veto. However, in 2010, the XVII Amendment has been reversed and is replaced with more effective XVIII Amendment to the Constitution, clearly turning Pakistan from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary republic.
The office of Prime Minister did not exist during three periods of Pakistan's history, a circumstance different from a vacancy in the office, as a result of the dismissal of an individual Prime Minister by the President or by Martial law. In the first two cases, Pakistan had no Prime Minister from October 7, 1958 until July 3, 1972, and from July 5, 1977 until March 24, 1985– periods of martial law. During these periods, the President, who was the chief martial law administrator, effectively had the powers of Prime Minister as the head of government, without the title of Prime Minister. In the third case, after Pervez Musharraf's coup, Pakistan did not have a Prime Minister from October 12, 1999 to November 20, 2002. During this time, Musharraf, holding the office of Chief Executive, was effectively the Head of Government. Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani is the currently 26th Prime Minister of Pakistan.
However, Bhutto was overthrown on 05 July 1977, and martial law declared again, with the office of Prime Minister being suspended until 1985 when Muhammad Khan Junejo was appointed by the newly elected National Assembly. This election also brought the eighth amendment to the 1973 Constitution, and gave the President powers that balanced those of the Prime Minister. The President was now able to dismiss the Prime Minister and the National Assembly (effectively calling for new elections) without prior consultation with the Prime Minister. In 1988, Benazir Bhutto was elected as Prime Minister, becoming the first female head of government to be democratically elected in a Muslim country.
From 1990 onwards, the offices of President and Prime Minister would clash, with the President dissolving the National Assembly, and thus dismissing the Prime Minister a total of three times until 1996, with new elections each time. In 1997, Navaz Sharif became Prime minister who would later, through Parliament, drafted and passed Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. With these Amendments, Sharif became country's strongest Prime minister in the history of Pakistan since 1947. However, it did not last longer. After the coup of Pervez Musharraf in 1999, Musharraf assumed the role of Chief Executive, and was the sole ruler of Pakistan. In October 2002, general elections were held, with no party gaining a majority of the popular vote or National Assembly of Pakistan. A new Prime Minister was appointed after much political wrangling, Zafarullah Khan Jamali of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), a pro-Musharraf political party.
In December 2003, the National Assembly passed the Seventeenth Amendment, partially restoring the power of the President to dissolve the National Assembly (and thus dismiss the Prime Minister), but making the dissolution subject to Supreme Court approval.
Jamali resigned on June 26, 2004. Interim prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain nominated the Finance minister, former Citibank Vice-President Shaukat Aziz, to the post. Aziz was elected Prime Minister on August 28, 2004, by a vote of 191 to 151 in the National Assembly. In 2003, Musharraf passed the 17th Amendment which gave the President more powers then the Prime minister, and shifted Pakistan's parliamentary system of semi-Presidential system. During 2006 till the parliamentary elections in 2008, Yousaf Raza Gillani became the Prime minister and through his elected lawmakers demanded Musharraf to imposed the 1973 constitution at its real position, and dissolved the 17th Amendment, which the President denied. More and more support to suspend the semi-presidential system began to take place in successive years which Musharraf continued to denied. Following the successful movement to impeach the President, Musharraf resigned and Zardari became the elected President of the country. In 2010, finally lawmakers drafted and successfully and unanimously passed the 18th Amendment, turning back the country to parliamentary democracy republic. The 18th Amendment also removed the power of the President of Pakistan to dissolve the Parliament unilaterally. This amendment sweeped the powers amassed by the Presidency under former Presidents General Pervez Musharraf and General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and to ease political instability in Pakistan.
No comments:
Post a Comment