On Thursday, 128 million Pakistanis will get to elect their country’s next government, and also the legislatures of the nation’s four provinces.
These are Pakistan’s 12th general elections — and the country’s latest attempt to deepen democratic roots. Pakistan’s powerful military establishment has ruled directly for more than three decades of the country’s journey as an independent nation since 1947. And it has influenced and intervened in politics even when not directly in power — a fact acknowledged by former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa in November 2022.
