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" ELECTORAL SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN SUGGESTIONS FOR REFORM ELECTORAL SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN SUGGESTIONS FOR REFORM   By   Dr. Faqir Hussain, Joint Secretary, Pakistan Law Commission   The founding fathers who formulated the Objectives Resolution which was adopted as a preamble to every successive constitution and later on added to the substantive part of the present (1973) Constitution [l1 conceived Pakistan to be a democratic polity, governed through the "chosen representatives of the people". The Resolution provides that the State shall exercise its authority as a "sacred trust" on behalf of and for the welfare of the people. This phraseology indeed furnishes the "normative moorings" [Z] of our Constitution, namely that the system of governance must be democratic and representative one, based on the consent of the people.   The Constitution provides for a parliamentary government based on majority principle both at the Centre and ‑Provinces. To make this provision practicable the Constitution provides for the formation .of political parties subject to "any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan". [3] The Political Parties Act, 1962 regulates the conduct and functions of such parties.   Notwithstanding the given constitutional and legal framework for a party‑based parliamentary system, its actual operation neither reflects the vision of the founding fathers nor fulfils the expectations of the people. Norms and principles, traditionally associated with parliamentary democracy, failed to take roots in our democratic culture, thereby subjecting the system to meta legal and extra‑constitutional strokes, which on occasions caused its…