The Pakistan Peoples Party (Urdu: پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی; abbr. PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly. The party was founded in 1967, when a number of prominent left-wing politicians in the country joined hands against the military dictatorship of President Ayub Khan, under the leadership of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Affiliated with the Socialist International, the PPP's platform has formerly been socialist, and its stated priorities continue to include transforming Pakistan into a social democratic state, promoting secular and egalitarian values, establishing social justice and a strong national defence. The party, alongside the Pakistan Muslim League--Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is one of the 3 largest political parties of Pakistan.
Since its foundation in 1967, it has been a major left-of-centre force in the country and the party's leadership has been dominated by the members of the Bhutto family. Its centre of power lies in the southern province of Sindh. The People's Party has been voted into power on five separate occasions (1970, 1977, 1988, 1993 and 2008), while on 4 occasions (1990, 1997, 2002 and 2013) it emerged as the largest opposition party. There have been a total of four Prime Ministers from PPP.
The PPP dominated the politics of Pakistan during the 1970s, suffering a temporary decline during the military dictatorship of Zia-ul-Haq. After the re-establishment of democracy in 1988 following Zia's death, a two-party system developed, consisting of the People's Party and the Islamic Democratic Alliance, later succeeded by the Nawaz League. The party served as the principal opposition to the Pervez Musharraf-led military government from 1999 to 2008.
The party conceded defeat during the 2013 General Election, losing swathes of support in the Punjab Province where most of its votebank was lost to the emerging Movement for Justice, although it retained its provincial government in Sindh. In the 2018 General Election, for the first time in history the party was able to neither form the government nor emerge as the largest party in opposition.
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