The President of Pakistan is the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, and is elected for a five-year term by the Electoral College of Pakistan - composed of the Senate, the National Assembly, and the four Provincial Assemblies. The President's appointment and term are constitutionally independent of the Prime Minister's term. The current President of Pakistan is Asif Ali Zardari, after being elected by the Electoral College of Pakistan on 6 September. The Prime Minister of Pakistan is usually the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly and is assisted by a cabinet of ministers drawn from both chambers of the federal legislature. Currently, Yousaf Raza Gillani is the Prime Minister of Pakistan.<br /><br />

The bicameral federal legislature comprises the 100 member Senate (with seats equally distributed among the provinces and the FATA and the capital) and the 342 member National Assembly. Both the Senate and the National Assembly have seats reserved for women and religious minorities. Senators are elected for six-year terms, with staggered elections every three years, whilst members of the National Assembly are elected for five-year terms. The Constitution provides for the President to address the federal legislature together at the start of the first session after any general elections.<br /><br />

The National Assembly elections that were held in October 2002 had 91 women elected to its Parliament - the largest number and percentage of women in the parliament of any Muslim-majority country.<br /><br />

Although the elected government of 2002 had a number of failures in its tenure, from failures in foreign policy, rise in terrorism, gagging free speech of media, political parties and the people, taking the judiciary as a hostage, failure in microeconomics, destabilizing the institutions on the whole, it still somehow is the first elected government in Pakistan's history to complete its full 5 years.This Government also pumped some much needed lifeline into the economy by getting crucial economic aid from the United States as well as by bringing foreign investment into its economy from various countries.
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Each province has a similar government setup with a Provincial Assembly elected for a five-year term through multi-party elections, which in turn elects a Chief Minister - the executive head of the province. The Chief Minister nominates a candidate for the office of Provincial Governor and the Provincial Assembly ratifies the nominee for a five-year term.<br /><br />

Pakistan Recently held its Parliamentarian election on Feb 18 2008. The Party of Slain Leader Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan People's Party parliamentarian (PPPP) won 120 seats in the National Assembly while Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif won 90 seats in the National Assembly. President Musharaf's ally party Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) came a distant third with 51 seats.After the elections The People's Party Parliamentarian and the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz announced a coalition to form the new government alone with Awami National Party (ANP) which is also a part of the coalition.