With the dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971, General Yahya Khan handed over his powers to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who took over the country as a civil martial law administrator. He remained as civil martial law administrator till the implementation of the 1973 constitution in which he assumed the role of the prime minister and nominated Fazal Elahi Chaudry as the president of Pakistan. Approval of the 1973 constitution from all political stakeholders was one of the major political victories of the then PPP government. In 1977, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s government announced early elections with an alleged attempt to defeat the unprepared opposition of the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA).

On the road to the elections, PNA (an alliance of nine political parties) started a massive election campaign by canvassing door and door and in a short span of time garnered huge support which was reflected in the crowd that they used to draw in their election rallies across the country. When elections concluded and results were announced, the results stunned the opposition parties in which PPP emerged as the single largest party with 95% votes in their bag. This landslide victory of PPP prompted a countrywide agitation from the PNA leaders and this movement against Bhutto ultimately took the shape of Tehreek-e-Nizam-e-Mustafa. On this pretext, General Zia Ul Haq dismissed the democratic government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and imposed martial law in the country.

General Zia immediately started his Islamization program with an aim to bring the constitution of the country in conformity with the Holy Quran and Sunnah. He held a referendum on a single point agenda of Islamic reforms. According to the official results, more than 95% of people acceded to this agenda. Before the referendum, General Zia Ul Haq hanged Bhutto on the charges of murder of a political opponent. General Zia single-handedly kept running the country till 1985 when he announced polls for the national and provincial assemblies on a non-party basis.  The election resulted in the replacement of the conventional political elite by many new faces that played a key role in the political landscape of the country in the years to come. Opposition under the banner of MRD (Movement for the restoration of democracy) boycotted the elections on the pretext that elections should be held on the party basis. However, the regime went on with the plan and as a result, Muhammad Khan Junejo was appointed as the prime minister of Pakistan. Later on, he was dismissed on the charges of corruption and General Zia again announced elections. Pakistan was going towards another election when Zia died in a tragic incident along with the American ambassador and many military dignitaries.

After the death of General Zia, Ghulam Ishaq Khan being chairman senate took over as the president of Pakistan. He announced elections on party-basis in which Pakistan Peoples Party under the leadership of Benazir Bhutto emerged as the largest party. In 1990 Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed PPP government on corruption charges and announced to hold new elections. Islami Jamhoori Ittihad (IJI) emerged as the clear winner and Nawaz Sharif was elected as the prime minister of Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif put an end to the policies of Bhuttos, which were leaning towards Socialism and opened the country to foreign investment. He was dismissed in 1993 on the same charges of corruption, however, Court reinstated his government. A few months later both the President and Prime minister resigned because of their political scuffle.

Benazir Bhutto again returned to the office in 1993 with an alliance of small political parties. Benazir government was dismissed by her own party-man and the then-president Farooq Leghari on the allegations of corruption and wrongdoings. February 1997 saw the rise of the Muslim League with a win of heavy margin. Muslim League under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif won a two-thirds majority and thus reinstated the lost-authority of Prime Minister over many constitutional matters. The parliament introduced many amendments in the constitution which mostly focused on the extreme power of the president. President was made the ceremonial head of the country and powers were wrested in the post of Prime Minister.

General Musharraf attained the role of Martial Law administrator and as president after some time. Musharraf introduced many reforms in the political system including the introduction of local bodies system. In 2001, he held a referendum for the validation of his presidency and martial law. Musharraf won a landslide victory in the referendum due to the lack of any prominent opposition figures in the country. In 2002, Pervez Musharraf issued LFO (Legal Framework Order) which added a number of amendments to the constitution and wrested all powers in his hands. In 2002 elections were announced and as a result of those elections, PML-Q emerged as the clear winner defeating other political parties. Religious political parties also gathered significant chunks of votes. On 6^th October 2007, he was again elected as president by the National Assembly. In the month of November of the same year, he declared an emergency and suspended the constitution.

In the coming months, Musharraf left his role as the military chief but resumed as the president of the country. PPP again emerged as victorious after a long time in 2008 under the chairmanship of Asif Zardari. Asif Ali Zardari was elected as the president and Yousuf Raza Gillani as the prime minister of Pakistan. Yousuf Raza Gillani was disqualified by the court and Raja Pervez Ashraf replaced him. In 2013, PPP completed its tenure of five years, which was an unprecedented trend in the political history of Pakistan. In the most elections of 2013, PML(n) won a clear majority and thus formed the government with Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister. Mamnoon Hussain was elected as the president of Pakistan. Another Political Party, PTI, entered the electoral politics of Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the court on the corruption after the revelations of Panama Leaks. After the disposition of Nawaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi became the prime minister of Pakistan. On 25th July 2018 elections were held again and those elections resulted in the political ascendency of Imran Khan. Imran Khan is still working as the prime minister of Pakistan with Arif Alvi holding the post of presidency.