Written By: Rana Farooq Ashraf
Published By: ANI News Agency
Pakistan today faces a question far more serious than who will win the next election: Does democracy still have the power to inspire the Pakistani people? Elections are held, political parties exist, parliaments function and governments change. Yet beneath this formal structure lies a growing crisis of confidence. The real danger may not be the immediate disappearance of democracy, but the gradual erosion of public faith in politics itself.
Recent research presents a disturbing but nuanced picture. Gallup & Gilani Pakistan reported in March 2025 that only 36 per cent of respondents expressed trust in the National Assembly. In another Gallup International survey, only 39 per cent of Pakistanis said they were ruled by the will of the people, while just 31 per cent believed governments were elected through free and fair elections.
These figures should concern every political party.
But they should also prevent us from drawing the wrong conclusion. The Pakistani public has not necessarily abandoned democracy. Rather, it appears increasingly sceptical about a political system that has failed to consistently deliver representation, accountability, economic security and institutional stability.
A PIDE analysis based on the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability’s nationwide household survey found that 57 per cent of Pakistanis preferred parliamentary representative democracy, while 16 per cent preferred dictatorship and 11 per cent favoured theocratic leadership. The message is clear: democracy still possesses public legitimacy, but that legitimacy cannot be taken for granted.
The deeper crisis is therefore a crisis of political credibility.
Pakistan’s mainstream political parties have increasingly become associated with personalities, families, electables and electoral calculations rather than with coherent programmes for transforming society. PIDE research has argued that major parties often function like closed political fiefdoms, with weak internal democracy, limited transparency and insufficient opportunities for ordinary members to rise through merit.
This is perhaps where the crisis of political narrative begins.
A political narrative is not merely a slogan repeated during an election campaign. It is a convincing answer to the questions ordinary citizens ask every day: How will my children receive better education? How will I find employment? How will inflation be controlled? How will justice become accessible? How will institutions become stronger? How will local governments give citizens a voice? How will Parliament regain authority? How will Pakistan compete economically with the world?
Unfortunately, political debate has too often been reduced to personalities, accusations, television battles and the politics of survival.
PIDE’s research on party manifestos has highlighted another important weakness: parties frequently make ambitious commitments but struggle to provide credible implementation roadmaps. The research also notes that parties often rely on popular slogans and local development promises rather than developing serious national and international policy narratives.
This explains why political slogans can mobilise crowds but fail to create lasting political movements.
Pakistan’s young generation is especially important in this transformation. Political engagement has not disappeared; it has changed form. PIDE research on electoral reform observes that young Pakistanis increasingly engage through social media advocacy and digital politics rather than traditional street-level party mobilisation. The political party that does not understand this transformation risks becoming irrelevant to a generation that communicates, organises and forms opinions differently from previous generations.
The 2024 elections provided another warning. PIDE researchers noted that millions of young voters challenged the traditional politics of local electables and patronage. Whether one agrees with the political choices made by these voters or not, the phenomenon cannot be ignored. Pakistani voters are becoming less predictable, more digitally connected and more willing to challenge established political hierarchies.
At the same time, the democratic environment itself has become increasingly constrained. Freedom House’s 2026 assessment continues to classify Pakistan as “Partly Free”, while giving the country 32 out of 100 for political rights and civil liberties. It acknowledges the existence of competitive multiparty elections but also points to significant restrictions and the powerful influence of the military establishment over political and governmental affairs.
PILDAT’s assessment of 2025 is equally significant. It argues that democratic institutions remained formally intact but operated within an increasingly security-driven environment, while political parties remained highly centralised, internal democracy remained weak and political disengagement continued to affect public confidence.
This creates a dangerous cycle.
When institutions lose credibility, political parties become weaker. When parties become weaker, individuals and informal power centres become stronger. When political institutions fail to provide meaningful representation, citizens move towards protest politics, personality politics or political apathy. And when citizens lose faith in parliamentary politics, the space for non-political forces naturally expands.
Therefore, the question is not simply whether democracy is dying.
The more important question is: Are Pakistan’s political parties themselves allowing democracy to die from within?
Political parties cannot demand democracy from the state while denying democracy to their own workers. They cannot speak about constitutional supremacy while treating party workers as expendable. They cannot demand transparency from institutions while keeping their own decision-making opaque. They cannot ask young people to participate when leadership opportunities remain concentrated in a narrow circle.
Pakistan does not necessarily need another political party merely for the sake of having another party. It needs a new political contract.
That contract must be built around internal party democracy, credible elections, strong local governments, parliamentary supremacy, economic opportunity, institutional accountability, rule of law and genuine political participation. Political parties must move from personality-driven politics towards policy-driven politics.
The country also needs a new generation of political leadership—not simply younger faces, but leaders with new ideas, intellectual confidence, administrative competence and the courage to tell the public difficult truths.
The greatest mistake would be to conclude that the Pakistani people have lost interest in politics. They have not. They are losing patience with politics that does not produce meaningful change.
The warning signs are already visible: declining institutional trust, doubts about electoral fairness, weak internal democracy within parties, political polarisation, shrinking civic space and a widening distance between traditional political organisations and younger citizens.
Yet this is not necessarily the end of democracy.
It could be the beginning of its renewal.
Pakistan’s political history has repeatedly demonstrated that public opinion cannot be permanently controlled. Political parties that listen to society, reform themselves and present a credible vision can regain public confidence. Those that remain trapped in personalities, patronage and old political formulas may gradually disappear from the political imagination of the people.
The choice, therefore, is ultimately with the political leadership.
Pakistan does not need less politics. It needs better politics.
It does not need the death of democracy. It needs the revival of democratic credibility.
And above all, it needs political parties capable of answering one fundamental question: What future are you offering the people of Pakistan?
If political parties cannot answer that question with clarity, honesty and a credible plan, the public may eventually search for the answer somewhere else.
That not the disappearance of elections—is the real warning for Pakistan’s democracy.
