A stable, democratic, prosperous Pakistan actively working to counter Islamist militancy is considered vital to U.S. interests. The history of democracy in Pakistan is a troubled one marked by ongoing tripartite power struggles among presidents, prime ministers, and army chiefs. Military regimes have ruled Pakistan directly for 34 of the country's 60 years in existence, and most observers agree that Pakistan has no sustained history of effective constitutionalism or parliamentary democracy. The country has had five constitutions, the most recent being ratified in 1973 (and significantly modified several times since). From the earliest days of independence, the country's armed forces have thought of themselves as "saviors of the nation," a perception that has received significant, though limited, public support. The military, usually acting in tandem with the president, has engaged in three outright seizures of power from civilian-led governments: by Gen. Ayub Khan in 1958, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq in 1977, and Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 1999. After 1970, five successive governments were voted into power, but not a single time was a government voted out of power—all five were removed by the army through explicit or implicit presidential orders. Of Pakistan's three most prominent Prime Ministers, one (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) was executed, another (Benazir Bhutto) exiled (then later assassinated), and her husband jailed for eight years without conviction, and the last (Nawaz Sharif) suffered seven years in exile under threat of life in prison for similar abuses before his 2007 return. Such long-standing turmoil in the governance system may partially explain why, in a 2004 public opinion survey, nearly two-thirds of Pakistanis were unable to provide a meaning for the term "democracy." The year 2007 saw Pakistan buffeted by numerous and serious political crises culminating in the December 27 assassination of former Prime Minister and leading opposition figure Benazir Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan from self-imposed exile in October. Bhutto's killing in an apparent gun and bomb attack (the circumstances remain controversial) has been called a national tragedy for Pakistan and did immense damage to already troubled efforts to democratize the country. Pakistan's security situation has deteriorated sharply: the federal government faces armed rebellions in two of the country's four provinces, as well as in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The country experienced about 44 suicide bomb attacks in the latter half of 2007 that killed more than 700 people. The country is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections in February 2008. Pakistan now suffers from considerable political uncertainty as the tenuous governance structure put in place by President Musharraf has come under strain. Musharraf himself was reelected to a second five-year presidential term in a controversial October 2007 vote by the country's electoral college and, under mounting domestic and international pressure, he finally resigned his military commission six weeks later. Yet popular opposition to military rule had been growing steadily with a series of political crises in 2007: a bungled attempt by Musharraf to dismiss the country's Chief Justice; Supreme Court rulings that damaged Musharraf's standing and credibility; constitutional questions about the legality of Musharraf's status as president; a return to Pakistan's political stage by two former Prime Ministers with considerable public support; and the pressures of impending parliamentary elections now set for February 18, 2008. The catastrophic removal of Benazir Bhutto from Pakistan's political equation dealt a serious blow both to the cause of Pakistani democratization and to U.S. interests. On November 3, 2007, President Musharraf had launched a "second coup" by suspending the country's constitution and assuming emergency powers in his role as both president and army chief. The move came as security circumstances deteriorated sharply across the country, but was widely viewed as being an effort by Musharraf to maintain his own power. His government dismissed uncooperative Supreme Court justices, including the Chief Justice, and jailed thousands of opposition figures and lawyers who opposed the abrogation of rule of law. It also cracked down on independent media outlets, many of which temporarily were shut down. The emergency order was lifted on December 15, but independent analysts find little evidence that the order's lifting has led to meaningful change, given what they see as repressive media curbs and a stacked judiciary. On the day before his action, Musharraf issued several decrees and made amendments to the Pakistani Constitution, some of which would ensure that his actions under emergency rule would not be challenged by any court. Pakistan's National Assembly ended its five-year term on November 15, 2007. Musharraf ally and recent Chairman of the Senate, Mohammadmian Soomro, was appointed to serve as caretaker Prime Minister during the election period. Many analysts view the caretaker cabinet as being stacked with partisan Musharraf supporters and so further damaging to hopes for credible elections. There have been numerous reports of government efforts to "pre-rig" the election. Pakistan's Chief Election Commissioner initially announced that polls would be held on January 8, 2007. About 13,500 candidates subsequently filed papers to vie for Pakistan's 272 elected National Assembly seats and 577 provincial assembly constituencies. The full National Assembly has 342 seats, with 60 reserved for women and another 10 reserved for non-Muslims. Amendments to the Pakistan Constitution and impeachment of the president require a two-thirds majority for passage. Opposition parties have been placed in the difficult position of choosing whether to participate in elections that may well be manipulated by the incumbent government or to boycott the process in protest. Following Bhutto's assassination and ensuing civil strife, the Election Commission chose to delay polls until February 18. The decision was criticized by the main opposition parties, which accuse the government of fearing a major loss, but which have chosen to participate. As Musharraf's political clout has waned, the ruling, Musharraf-allied PML-Q party faces more daunting odds in convincing a skeptical electorate that it deserves another five years in power. What follows is a review of the five leading political parties/coalitions (which accounted for 85% of the National Assembly seats won in the 2002 election) and some of their most important figures. The Muslim League is Pakistan's oldest political party and was the only major party existing at the time of independence. Long associated with the Quaid-e-Azam (Father of the Nation) Mohammed Ali Jinnah and his lieutenant, Liaquat Ali Khan (the country's first Prime Minister), the League was weakened upon their premature deaths in 1948 and 1951 (Jinnah by natural causes, Khan by assassination). With its primary goal (the creation of a homeland for the Muslims of British India) accomplished, the party struggled to find a coherent ideology. The Pakistan Muslim League (PML) was established in 1964 as a successor to the Muslim League. It was not until the 1988 elections that the PML—in coalition with Islamist parties—was again a major player on the national scene. Nawaz Sharif's faction of the PML was formed in 1993. The PML-N's electoral strength typically is found in the densely populated Punjab province and includes the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, and Multan. The party's current election manifesto stresses its demands for "revival of genuine democracy" through a sovereign parliament, an independent judiciary, and a free and fair electoral process. Party leaders have been consistent and explicit in their criticisms of President Musharraf, calling him a "one-man calamity" who has single-handedly brought ruin to Pakistan through efforts to retain personal power. They call for restored democracy and urge the U.S. government to support the Pakistani nation rather than a single individual. Nawaz Sharif, who had been Gen. Zia's finance minister in the 1980s, led a PML-Islamist coalition to a strong second-place showing in 1988 elections and became Punjab chief minister. The scion of a wealthy Lahore industrialist family, Sharif was elected Prime Minister in 1990. Three years later, he established the offshoot PML-Nawaz (PML-N), which went on to dominate the 1997 national elections. While in office, Sharif moved to bolster the power of the Prime Minister's office. Sharif was later ousted in a bloodless coup led by his army chief, Gen. Musharraf, in 1999. He and most of his immediate family lived in exile in Saudi Arabia following his conviction on criminal charges and a brief stay in prison related to his actions on the day of the coup. His family's legal status remained unclear, but reports indicated that, after the 1999 coup, the Sharif family and the Musharraf government, in collusion with the Saudi government, concluded an "arrangement" that would bar any family member from returning to Pakistan for a period of ten years. Sharif is constitutionally barred from serving a third term as Prime Minister. His electoral plans met a major obstacle when, in December 2007, his nomination papers were rejected, making him ineligible to compete in the elections because of criminal convictions related to his 1999 ouster from power. Because he has refused to engage in any negotiations with the Musharraf government, Sharif has been able to seize a mantle as an opposition "purist," and he wields considerable political influence in the populous Punjab province. With Bhutto's demise, Sharif has stepped up as the most visible opposition figure with national credentials.