A game of thrones in Pakistan’s dynastic politics

Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif has passed the leadership baton to his brother, ensuring the continuation of a dynastic political system in a country where government has long been run as a family enterprise. In Pakistan, patronage and kinship play a huge role in politics, often dominating ideology. Some estimates say more than half of seats — at both national and provincial level — have been passed from father to son, brother to brother, keeping the business of politics firmly within the family.

Sharif named his younger brother Shahbaz as his successor to the country’s top office the day after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court on corruption charges.

The move maintains the eponymous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party’s hold on power, with Nawaz continuing to act as puppet master from his position as head of the party.

“The subtext in all this is that Nawaz Sharif will still have an influence in how things are carried out until the next election and perhaps through the next election,” said political analyst Umair Javad.

Shahbaz — currently chief minister of Punjab province, the family’s power base — is expected to slide into his brother’s vacated National Assembly seat before being rubber stamped as prime minister in a parliamentary vote.

“It’s the confidence of a political dynasty in its power that’s allowing it to make all these moves,” said Badar Alam, editor of the Herald magazine. Some warn the PML-N will not rally behind Shahbaz in the same way it did Nawaz.

“Nawaz has personal political appeal in a way that doesn’t,” said journalist and commentator Omar Waraich.

Another power dynasty, the Bhutto family and its Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lost its footing after the 2007 death of its leader, the country’s first female prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

But since Benazir’s assassination, the PPP has become a shadow of its former self, and lost 76 seats in the last general election in 2013.

The country’s main opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which paints itself as a grassroots movement, is centred around the personality of its leader, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.

“One of the appeals of Imran Khan is that he breaks this dynastic hold. But he only does it through the form of a personality cult,” said Waraich.

But observers say he has still failed to turn PTI into a truly national party — and challenger to the PML-N dominance. his brother