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Prime Minister of Pakistan
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The
Prime Minister of Pakistan (Urdu: وزیراعظم Wazir-e-
Azam) is the Head of Government of Pakistan.
The prime minister is elected by the National Assembly. Members of the
National Assembly are elected by popular vote. The National Assembly then elects
a Prime Minister for a five year term. Most commonly, the leader of the
party or coalition with the most votes becomes the Prime Minister. The
Prime Minister is responsible for appointing a cabinet. The President has
the constitutional reserve power to remove the Prime Minister, through a
dissolution of the National Assembly, triggering new elections. The Seventeenth
Amendment imposed a check on this power, making it subject to Supreme Court
approval or veto.
The office of Prime Minister did not exist during three periods of
Pakistan's history, a circumstance different from a vacancy in the office, as a
result of the dismissal of an individual Prime Minister by the President. In the
first two cases, Pakistan had no Prime Minister from October 7, 1958
until July 3, 1972, and from July 5, 1977 until March 24, 1985 — periods of
martial law. During these periods, the President, who was the chief martial law
administrator, effectively had the powers of Prime Minister as the head of
government, without the title of Prime Minister. In the third case, after
Pervez Musharraf's coup, Pakistan did not have a Prime Minister from
October 12, 1999 to November 20, 2002. During this time, Musharraf,
holding the office of Chief Executive, was effectively the Head of Government.
Shaukat Aziz is the current
Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was elected by the National
Assembly on August 28, 2004, by a vote of 191 to 151 in the National Assembly.
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