Pakistan has no clear path out of its dynastic politics
Unless compelled by circumstances, why would one change a norm that largely works in their favour? Former Pakistan Prime Nawaz Sharif with his daughter, Maryam. | Hannah McKay/Reuters
Recent events have brought concerns around dynasticism in Pakistan’s electoral politics to the fore once again. In reviewing the issue’s causes and consequences, it is important to consider both dynastic leadership succession and local candidate selection.
As research by Hassan Javid, Farooq Naseer and Ali Cheema has shown for the case of Pakistan’s Punjab, dynastic candidates – ie those who followed a relative in politics – accounted for approximately two-thirds of the elected legislators and around half of the top three contestants in Pakistan’s National Assembly elections in the province between 1985 and 2008. This is coupled with the fact that the share of dynastic politicians in the Assembly has remained r
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