PAKISTAN’S political crisis is deepening with every passing day. The fact that the Punjab Assembly election that was scheduled for Ap...

This is election year in Pakistan. The dates for the election of provincial assemblies in the two provinces – Punjab and Khyber Pakht...

IF one goes by the poll dates fixed by the president of Pakistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor for election to the provincial a...

Pakistan’s constitution requires that the election of a national or provincial assembly must be held within 90 days if it is prematur...

PAKISTAN has encountered many difficulties in the past, including a near meltdown of its economy in 1968; a real or engineered breakd...

Most democratic countries, whether based on parliamentary or presidential systems, stand on three distinct pillars of the state with ...

Pakistan has seen several extreme levels of confrontation between political actors in its 75 years of existence. A mammoth people’s m...

Pakistan has never experienced a staggered general election with polls to one or more provincial assemblies taking place months apart...

THE first major test of the current Election Commission, in fact the entire nation, is less than 90 days away. With the dissolution o...

Political uncertainty, in many ways, is a self-prescribed way of life for almost all democratic societies. Every few years, democrati...

EVEN by Pakistani standards, where there is never a dull moment in politics and parliament, 2022 was an extraordinarily tumultuous ye...

In order to answer the above question of whether electronic voting machines (EVMs) should be incorporated into the electoral process ...

ہر گزرتے دن کے ساتھ پاکستان تحریک انصاف (پی ٹی آئی) کی 2 صوبائی حکومتوں اور وفاقی حکومت کے درمیان دشمنی کی کیفیت بڑھتی ہی جا رہی ہے۔ ...

WITH each passing day, the state of animosity between the PTI, along with the two provincial governments it controls, and the federal...

Pakistan is one of the youngest countries of the world with a median age of around 22 years. It is the 36th youngest country among t...

FORMER prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan is relentlessly continuing his campaign, in one way or the other, to push Prime Min...

پارلیمنٹ کے کیلنڈر کے برعکس، پنجاب کی صوبائی اسمبلی گزشتہ 7 ماہ سے سیشن میں ہی ہے۔ اگرچہ اسے 40ویں، 41ویں اور 42ویں سیشنز میں تقسیم ک...

CONTRARY to the parliamentary calendar of the legislature, the Punjab provincial assembly has been continuously in session for the la...

‘TOSHAKHANA’ — the local definition of the state treasury where gifts received by state officials are deposited — was not a very fami...

The pivot around which Imran Khan’s entire protest movement revolves is the demand for an early general election in Pakistan. General...

VOTER turnout is as vital a sign of political health of a democracy as is blood pressure in a human body. Pakistan has consistently e...

‘Long March’ has by now become an established tradition of Pakistani politics. Various political parties give different brand names t...

SOMETIMES we feel overwhelmed by the multifaceted conflicts in our society and wonder whether it is unique to us or if the situation ...

THE by-elections held on Oct 16 were extraordinary for a number of reasons. First, the constituencies were arbitrarily picked for re-...

A FACTOR critical in deciding the outcome of an election is the time when it is held. The power to fix the election schedule is, ther...

South Asia’s oldest political party – Indian National Congress (INC) – is about to hold the historic election of its new President. I...

سابق وزیرِاعظم عمران خان کے پاس تو شاید ’اسٹیبلشمنٹ‘ پر تنقید کرنے کی اپنی ہی کوئی وجہ ہو لیکن یہ حقیقت ہے کہ سول ملٹری تعلقات ایک طو...

FORMER prime minister Imran Khan may have his own reasons to lash out at the ‘establishment’, but the fact is that the subject of civ...

With the latest addition of two Special Assistants, the extended cabinet of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif including Ministers, Minist...

PAKISTAN is the 46th youngest country with a median age of 20.4 years among 237 countries and territories in the world, according to ...

The funding of political parties in Pakistan has been in the news since the ‘prohibited funding case’ against Imran Khan’s Pakistan T...

WE have a history of political feuds and vendetta that run through generations. It may be difficult to pinpoint the origins of the po...

THE Election Commission of Pakistan recently passed an important order in the eight-year-old prohibited funding case instituted again...

MORE than anything else, it was our inability to manage the provincial aspirations for autonomy which resulted in the break-up of the...

IT makes every Pakistani immensely proud that the country came into being through a democratic process, but it remains to be seen whe...

Finally, after an eight-year-long wait, the ECP has spoken on the Prohibited Funding Case instituted against the PTI on a complaint b...

Punjab is not just the largest province of Pakistan. Its population is greater than the population of the other three provinces put t...

As Pakistan gets ready to celebrate its 75th birthday, a range of institutions seem to have developed cracks manifesting decay that n...

Pakistan has seldom experienced such passionately contested by-elections as were seen last Sunday in 20 Provincial Assembly constitue...

IT may seem that it is just 20, or some five per cent, of the total 371 seats of the Punjab Assembly which are at stake in this Sunda...

SOME of the recent actions by the president of Pakistan have revived the debate about the role of the president in a parliamentary sy...

GENERAL elections may be 16 months away if the existing legislatures complete their full five-year term but election season seems to ...

In a democracy anywhere in the world, dates set aside for debate and approval of the annual Budget are considered sacrosanct and both...

AS the date for the annual budget presentation in parliament approached against the backdrop of the deepening economic crisis, the sa...

Last week, the parliament of Pakistan once again legislated about Overseas Pakistanis (OP) ‘right to vote’ in Pakistani elections and...

WITH the passage of drastic amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, by the two Houses of parliament last week, the...

WITH the Supreme Court order of May 17 — issued in response to a presidential reference seeking clarifications on Article 63-A or the...

At the time of its creation in 1947, Pakistan was fortunate to have abundant water resources with the mighty river Indus and five oth...

As soon as it became apparent that the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan could not be stalled any longer, he ann...

THE National Assembly of Pakistan made history by successfully passing the first vote of no-confidence against a sitting prime minist...

The unprecedented has happened. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, a sitting Prime Minister has been sent home 15 months ...

IT proved to be a fateful Sunday. The deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, who was presiding over a sitting called specifically t...

What will happen if the no-confidence resolution against the Prime Minister is successful in the National Assembly? This question has...

MODERN democratic states generally operate through three distinct branches ie the legislature, the judiciary and the executive, with ...

WITH the submission of the notice for a no-confidence resolution by the opposition parties, the first step of the constitutional and ...

One may accept it as an unfortunate coincidence that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent official visit to Russia happened on the day ...

POLITICS is once again on the upsurge in Pakistan. Both the ruling PTI and the opposition seem to have kicked off premature election ...

IT is distressing to see the federal government legislating by presidential decree to the total exclusion of any consultative process...

The outburst of criticism both from the Opposition and some cabinet ministers on the recently-announced results of a performance revi...

IT was very heartening to see the Supreme Court putting its foot down and refusing to interfere in the schedule of the second phase o...

Making bureaucracies work has always been a challenge the world over. Even developed countries face this uphill task and continue to ...

THE events in the Senate last week once again demonstrated that, with some notable exceptions, our honourable legislators, whether fr...

It was like a bombshell had hit the government, and its carefully cultivated image of a party fighting against corruption. In the pas...

وزیرِاعظم عمران خان نے ایک بار پھر اپنے دوٹوک انداز میں اعلان کیا ہے کہ وہ قائد حزبِ اختلاف شہباز شریف کے ساتھ کسی قسم کی بات چیت نہی...

ONCE again, in his characteristically blunt style, Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced that he would not engage in talks with Lea...

THE much-discussed seven-year-old foreign funding case reached a major milestone about a month ago when the scrutiny committee consti...

In a fitting close to the year, finally the President of Pakistan signed this month the historic Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2021, e...

THE new cycle of local government elections in Pakistan started with a bang. Though delayed by more than a year, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa w...

RELATIONS between Islamabad and Karachi are on the boil. To an extent, it is understandable as the two governments are run by rival p...

FINALLY, the law has been passed by parliament. The government hopes that things will now move swiftly and that the law will ensure t...

Jang Dawn Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) Day Spring Pakistan Observer 92 Newspaper Urdu Point

THERE may be many things wrong about the joint sitting of parliament that took place on Nov 17. For example, no meaningful effort was...

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) released two extraordinary and somewhat explosive enquiry reports last week. The reports we...

THE subject of accountability has always been emotive, deeply divisive and highly controversial in Pakistan. To an extent, this is na...

It is common knowledge that overall voter turnout in Pakistan is traditionally quite low. At an average of 47 percent in the past 1o ...

A NO-CONFIDENCE resolution is not necessarily a negative move. In fact, the only feature that distinguishes a democratic system from ...

LEGISLATION is the primary function of the national parliament and provincial assemblies and that is exactly why these are called the...

The ongoing confrontation between the government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is unprecedented. Opposition political...

DEBATES, commentaries and analyses about Electronic Voting Machines have been dominating the print and electronic media over the past...

THE fourth year of the government has barely begun but the prospects of the next election, which is not scheduled before the autumn o...

Both the fifteenth National Assembly of Pakistan and the PTI-led federal government completed their three years just five days apart;...

THE auditor general of Pakistan (AGP) has just retired and, at the time of writing, the government must be going through the process ...

THE so-called ‘two narratives’, or opposing point of views, within the PML-N have drawn the attention of the media and political oppo...

Ordinarily, the election of a country as President of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should be a routine affair and not m...

IN this age of globalisation, nations are voluntarily giving up a part of their legislative sovereignty to supranational entities lik...

Since 1993, the question of enabling overseas Pakistanis to vote in Pakistani elections from their respective countries of residence ...

THERE has been frequent and sometimes harsh criticism of the PTI-led federal government for its performance and quality of governance...

ARGUABLY the most controversial package of electoral reform proposals in the history of Pakistan is halfway through the parliamentary...

THE Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the most recent of the alliances of opposition political parties, is facing an existential th...

Article of Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob on Electoral Reforms published in Jang on March 31, 2021 in a report of Editor Jang, Mr. M. Akram ...

It was unexpected and shocking when Prime Minister Imran Khan, four days into quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus infec...

BY-ELECTIONS do spring surprises occasionally but despite the uncertainty about individual contests, these are considered sedate affa...

THE Senate of Pakistan has existed since the 1973 Constitution was passed by the fifth legislature of the country. During this time, ...

Jang Express Tribune Daily Times Ausaf Daily Express Daily Pakistan Daily Patriot Dunya Newspaper Day S...

Dawn Jang Pakistan Today The Day Spring Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) Newsnod Daily Patriot Daily Pak...

Governance and its improvement are of critical importance to Pakistan. Pakistan ranks among bottom one-fifth of over 200 countries an...

FOUR major political parties of Pakistan, including the ruling party, are facing charges of receiving prohibited funds from foreign s...

Daily Pakistan Jang News DAWN The News International Dunya Newspaper Newsnod Daily Express Da...

The 10-party opposition alliance known as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was considering, not so long ago, that it would resi...

THE good news is that the debate on the use of ordinances as the preferred mode of legislation in Pakistan has recently gained moment...

Daily Pakistan Jang News DAWN The News International Day Spring Dunya Newspaper Frontier News Dai...

Jang News Pak Observer The Nation Day Spring Dunya Newspaper Daily Pakistan Nawa e Wakt The News International ...

Prime Minister Imran Khan recently invited a great deal of criticism by admitting that he and his party, PTI, were not ready to gover...

TWO extraordinary things happened on Dec 22 — in the context of chasing elusive good governance in Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Kha...

IF the Senate election takes place in March 2021 as scheduled, the PTI is likely to emerge as the largest party in the house, displac...

Accountability has been political Pakistan’s obsession from day one – literally. Soon after coming into existence, Pakistan’s first ...

During the last nine months, the details and extent of playing politics right in the middle of the pandemic are different in differen...

As the confrontation between the ruling coalition and the combined opposition seems to be intensifying and crossing all limits, saner...

THE subject of production orders for detained legislators is once again in the headlines. Prime Minister Imran Khan, while recently a...

Catchy slogans sell way more than a well-thought out and immaculately structured manifesto in an election in Pakistan. People don’t h...

Dawn: https://epaper.dawn.com/DetailNews.php?StoryText=24_09_2020_114_003 Associated Press of Pakistan (APP): https://www.ap...

Dawn: https://www.dawn.com/news/1581065/capacity-building-session-held-with-young-mpas Jang: https://e.jang.com.pk/09-23-202...

THE recent nine-page judgement of the Islamabad High Court regarding the alleged illegal exercise of executive powers by an adviser t...

I have been observing the national and provincial legislatures in Pakistan and abroad for nearly two decades. While the national parl...

THE 15th National Assembly completed two years on Aug 17. Its performance during this period has been the subject of discussion in th...

Two parallel thought streams have been flowing in Pakistan regarding the public place of overseas Pakistanis and, more specifically, ...

The 18th Amendment became part of Pakistan’s constitution about ten years ago when President Asif Ali Zardari signed it on 19th April...

SUDDENLY, the debate on government performance seems to be all over the place. On second thoughts, it may not be so sudden. The incum...

June is budget time in Pakistan. The financial year closes on June 30 and a fresh authorization is needed from the national and provi...

VERY few people realise that the budget for the next financial year (2020-21) will, for the first time since the adoption of the 1973...

When US President Donald Trump recently called Prime Minister Imran Khan and offered to send some ventilators to Pakistan to help it ...

Should parliament continue working despite the coronavirus pandemic? At least some civil society organizations in Pakistan earlier th...

It is one of those times in our political history when the opposition is at least numerically very strong in the parliament and provi...

THE five-member Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is finally complete after a painful and protracted process of consultation betw...

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has not even completed the first eighteen months of its term, yet the discourse of “in-...

WEAKNESSES generally associated with the legislative process in our country were once again exposed during the passage of amendments ...

Even if one believes that the two main opposition political parties were coerced into supporting recent amendments in military acts w...

Whether elected directly or nominated indirectly to the parliament, a member of the national assembly (MNA) has the following respons...

MAULANA Fazlur Rehman’s recent Azadi March on Islamabad was not a new phenomenon, as anti-government agitations have been a part of P...

Fazlur Rehman’s ‘Azadi March’ which landed in Islamabad on Oct. 31, was the most recent of many other so-called ‘long marches’ on the...

PAKISTAN is one of the few democratic countries which have the dubious distinction of having the power to legislate by executive decr...

The three largest political parties in Pakistan - PTI, PMLN and PPP- which command 86 percent of total membership in the National Ass...

Fazl ur Rehman’s protest march is not the first of its kind but it sure is the latest in a series of marches and agitations seeking t...

AMID the current political turmoil, accountability and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) figure most prominently. On the one s...

One criticism often directed at the government is that the cabinet has grown so large under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) that i...

PRIME MINISTER Imran Khan has been widely praised for delivering a powerful and impressive speech at the UN General Assembly on Sept ...

It is ironic that barely six days after Pakistan’s top judge said in a speech that he found concerns being raised about the “muzzling...

Article 89 of the constitution defines in detail the process of legislation through ordinances. It stipulates that only in exceptiona...

When Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan launched his party’s 100-day agenda roughly two months before the general ele...

Geo News: https://www.geo.tv/shows/geo-headlines/246524-geo-headlines-11-am-3rd-september-2019 Express News: https://www.you...

LAST Sunday, Aug 25, marked the completion of eight months during which two of the four positions of the members of the Election Comm...

Is Pakistan ready to allow persons holding dual nationality to become members of its parliament? The question arose after Prime Minis...

Perhaps it was the impressively large gathering of Pakistani-Americans at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC during Prime Ministe...

Source Title Dawn Sindh Assembly outranks other assemblies in holding sessions The Nation ...

‘NAYA’ (or ‘new’) Pakistan’ has been one of the most popular slogans of the PTI as has ‘tabdeeli’ (or ‘change’). It is therefore only...

WHILE the aftershocks of the Senate’s no-trust vote of Aug 1 are still being felt, it seems that some good may also have come of the ...

August 17 will mark the completion of the first year of the PTI federal government in Pakistan, with the performance of the governmen...

The release of an explosive video which shows possible evidence of a wrongful conviction of jailed ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by ...

IS the season of defections here again? Media reports regarding 15 PML-N members of the Punjab Assembly calling on Prime Minister Imr...

Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development & Transparency (PILDAT) has conducted about three hundred training programs for par...

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), located along the northwestern region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, were always ...

Just eight months into his five year term, Prime Minister Imran Khan considered it fit to undertake the first major reshuffle in his ...

Starting this week, India will hold its general elections in seven phases until May 19th. It is safe to assume that the winner will b...

IT seems that a section of population in Pakistan is perpetually infatuated by the presidential form of government. Although a unanim...

A STORM of protest led by no less a person than the prime minister had engulfed the country after Punjab’s provincial assembly passed...

THE day that two mosques in Christ­church were attacked, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that “these are people who I ...

Pakistan’s National Action Plan, the government’s detailed plan established in 2015 to counter terrorist activities is in the news wi...

TWO of the four members of the Election Commission of Pakistan retired on Jan 26, 2019, after completing their stipulated term of two...

When Pakistan’s two major political parties – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)- signed the Chart...

THE PTI-led federal government is set to complete its first six months today but the National Assembly which elected this government ...

THE realisation has been growing over the past few years that Pakistan needs some kind of dialogue among state institutions at the hi...

Source Title Dawn No protest after SC’s final decision in Aasia’s case termed a milestone Natio...

Just a day before assuming office as the new Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa surprised many by proposing an inter...

A FEW days ago, some of the leading television channels were almost simultaneously flashing the ‘breaking news’ that Prime Minister I...

FINALLY, it seems that the 15th National Assembly is ready to move forward. PTI has finally agreed to the election of Leader of the O...

With 2018 coming to a close, there is increasing concern about the political scenarios that will unfold next year. There are several ...

LIKE free and fair elections, a fair system of accountability has also remained elusive in Pakistan. Numerous efforts have been made ...

With 2018 coming to a close, there is increasing concern about the political scenarios that will unfold next year. There are several ...

On Thursday, 29th November, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government completes its first 100 days in office. Prompted by the agenda set...

ALTHOUGH parliament did not figure prominently in Imran Khan’s 'first 100 days' agenda - now, appropriately, the Prime Minister’s 100...

It is rare that by-election results generate as much interest and prompt as much commentary as was the case with the polls in the nat...

RECENTLY, Prime Minister Imran Khan expanded his cabinet. It has led to a fresh round of questions asked each time a cabinet is forme...

The most important task before the next government should be to address the strained civil-military relations. As long as the civil-m...

Media Coverage of "Score Card on Assessment of the Quality of General Election 2018 and its Comparison with General Election 2013". ...

ONE must confess that, despite all the hard work of the Election Commission, a dark cloud of suspicion did hang over polling day on J...

TRT World spoke with Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of PILDAT (Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency) – an i...

Every election season, some people are very surprised when they come to know through the media that a returning officer (RO) has aske...

IN a tight election race like the one we are witnessing in Pakistan ahead of July 25 and amidst allegations of ‘pre-poll rigging’ and...

Interview of PILDAT President Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob with ‘Deutsche Welle’

'The News' has quoted PILDAT President - Ahmed Bilal Mehboob's statements on June 29, 2018. Links are given below.

INTERNATIONAL election observers are now widely accepted across the globe especially in democracies which have yet to establish the credibility of their institutions including of their election-management bodies.

THE original 1973 Constitution had no stipulations for a caretaker government, which is why no provision existed at that time for the dissolution of the National Assembly by the president in his discretion.

Some Opinion based articles mentioning PILDAT’s Scorecard on Pre-Poll Fairness were published by different newspapers.

“The Nation and Express Tribune” have quoted PILDAT Study on “Assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan in 2017”.

PAKISTAN is in search of caretaker cabinets both at the centre and in the four provinces. It is a unique model which probably exists only in Pakistan.

Media Coverage for Project Closing Ceremony of USAID-SGAFP Project on RTI Law held on Apr 12, 2018 at Avari Hotel, Lahore. ...

It was eight years ago on April 19, 2010, that then president Asif Zardari signed the Constitution (Eighteenth) Amendment Bill......

THE approaching general election is expected to be different from the previous 10 elections in many....

A major question left unaddressed in the Elections Act pertains to the limit on poll spending.

Media Coverage for 6th NAP Forum on Feb 26, 2018 in Avari Hotel, Lahore Sr# Newspaper Title 1 T...

THE Elections Act, 2017, passed by parliament and signed into law by the president of Pakistan in Oct­ober 2017, has been rightly haile...

Media Coverage for Multi-party Roundtable on the Elections Act, 2017 on Feb 8, 2018 in Marriotte Hotel, Islamabad Sr# ...

Sr# ...

Sr# Newspaper Title Weblink 1 Dawn PILDAT event urges govt to do more on NAP Cl...

Media Coverage for Project Opening Ceremony of USAID-SGAFP Project on RTI Law held on Dec 16, 2017 at Ghotvi Hall, Islamia U...

Media Coverage of PILDAT’s Roundtable on "Reforms in Accountability System of Pakistan” on Nov 8, 2017 at Serena Hotel, Islamabad ...

S# Source Title URL 1 Jang PILDAT ki Raza Rabbani ko Senate Committee magazine shai ...

Print Media quoted PILDAT reports in their Newspapers on 8th of October 2017. 1.      The News - ...

Print Media quoted PILDAT reports in their Newspapers. Web links with headings are given below. 1.     &nb...

Sr. Source Title URL 1 The News MPs briefed on NAP implementation Click to view ...

Sr. Source Title URL 1 Dawn Call to take all stakeholders on board in fight again...

Sr# Source Title URL 1 The News Pakistani delegation leaves for Indonesia on study visit Click to view 2 Daily T...

Date Title Name of News Paper March 7, 2017 Pak, India officials stress use of technology to i...

No. Date Title Name of News Paper 1.        February 22, ...