Pakistan has experienced Parliamentary Democracy. According to the constitution of 1973, the post of President is ceremonial.

When position of the President becomes largely ceremonial, Parliament acts as a rubber stamp of the Prime Minister, if Prime Minister gets absolute majority. We have seen this situation during the era of Nawaz Shareef, when, on the basis of overwhelming majority, Nawaz Shareef messed up with the army and the judiciary. This situation finally led then Chief of Army Staff, General Mr. Pervez Musharraf to come into power.

Whether, it is Ghulam Ishaq Khan or Farooq Ahmad Khan Laghari, both then Presidents dismissed respective governments of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Shareef on the charges of corruption. From one angle, these dismissals portray weakened democracy. But, from another angle, these dismissals represent checks & balances from the President over the Prime Minister in terms of damaging national exchequer.

This has been observed that when there were no check & balances over the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister acted totally out of proportion as a dictator.

There are also cases, when, in Presidential Democracy, President acts like a dictator. Examples are Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Vladimir Putin’s term as President of Russia.

Keeping aforementioned facts in mind, Pakistan should either adopt Presidential Democracy like United States of America; where Presidential candidate can be elected only twice. Or there should have been checks & balances over the Prime Minister from the President in terms of Parliamentary Democracy, as we have it right now. Both, President and Prime Minister should not be elected more than twice. The main focus should be on how to maintain balance of power between the President and the Prime Minister.