Assessment of the Quality of Pakistan\u2019s Democracy 2025
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\nDecember 31, 2025: Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) has released its\u00a0Assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan 2025, finding that while democratic institutions remain intact in form, their functioning has become increasingly constrained by a\u00a0security-driven governance paradigm. 2025 was characterised by the consolidation and normalisation of the\u00a0hybrid governance model\u00a0rather than its disruption.
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\nThe security-driven environment, particularly since the brief but intense Pakistan-India armed conflict in May 2025, has further entrenched the security establishment\u2019s influence over all matters, including democratic institutions and governance in Pakistan. This\u00a0\u201chybrid\u201d model has the full endorsement of the civilian government, which increasingly views democracy through the lens of state survival.\u00a0Regional security developments, including tensions with India and Afghanistan, alongside persistent internal insurgencies and intense political polarization, have all contributed to Pakistan\u2019s reversion to becoming a\u00a0security-centric state.\u00a0PILDAT assessment highlights that 2025 marked the institutionalisation of a hybrid governance model in which democratic institutions operate within parameters increasingly defined by security\u00a0threats and priorities as they\u00a0now override democratic norms and principles.
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\nPILDAT\u2019s assessment highlights the following institutional developments during 2025:
\n As Parliament passed the consequential 27th Constitutional Amendment with limited debate and consensus,\u00a0PILDAT observed Parliamentary representativeness and oversight were also weakened\u00a0by continuing vacancies in the offices of Leader of the Opposition in both Houses.
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\nExecutive authority\u00a0remained formally civilian but substantively constrained. The Prime Minister and Defence Minister\u2019s statements regarding governing in collaboration with the establishment exemplified the formalisation of the hybrid model.
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\nJudiciary\u00a0experienced significant structural changes during 2025 as the constitutional amendment created a new Federal Constitutional Court, continued operation of military courts for civilians as well as high-profile accountability proceedings conducted under exceptional conditions collectively raised concerns regarding due process.
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\nSecurity establishment\u2019s role in national decision-making became even more prominent\u00a0after major terrorist incidents, continued instability along the western border, and the India-Pakistan confrontation in 2025. This was reflected in the restructuring of the military command through constitutional amendment, the elevation of the COAS to rank of Field Marshal and increasing commentary by representatives of security institutions on governance and political issues.
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\nElectoral processes\u00a0continued through by-elections but\u00a0low voter turnout, boycotts and political disengagement limited their capacity to restore public trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Assessment of the Quality of Pakistan\u2019s Democracy 2025 \u00a0 December 31, 2025: Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) has released its\u00a0Assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan 2025, finding that while democratic institutions remain intact in form, their functioning has become increasingly constrained by a\u00a0security-driven governance paradigm. 2025 was characterised by the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15810,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15809\/revisions\/15810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}