Editing Elections in Pakistan (section)

===Local government elections===
To decentralize administrative and financial authority, ensuring accountability to local governments for good governance, effective service delivery, and transparent decision-making through institutionalized participation at the grassroots level, elections to local government institutions are held every four years on a non-party basis by the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan.

Members of the Union Council, including the Union Administrator and Vice Union Administrator, are elected through direct elections based on adult franchise and a joint electorate. However, for the election of reserved seats for women in the Zila Council, proportionately divided among Tehsils or Towns, all members of the Union Councils in a Tehsil or Town shall be elected. It is the responsibility of the Chief Election Commissioner to organize and conduct these elections.

The first local government election was held in 1959 under the dictatorship of Ayub Khan. The second local government election was held in 1979 under the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq. The third local government election was held after the coup tenure of Pervez Musharraf in 2000. Finally, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, local body elections were held on December 7, 2013. Balochistan was the first province where these polls were held. Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) were all set to conduct the polls. These elections were held due to the immense pressure from the newly emerging political power of PTI on the central government of PML-N.