First Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government

First Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Government

17th and 18th Cabinet of Pakistan
1973-1977
Date formed14 August 1973
Date dissolved30 March 1977
People and organisations
Head of stateFazal Ilahi Chaudhry
Head of governmentZulfikar Ali Bhutto
Member party  Pakistan People's Party
Status in legislatureMajority government
85 / 146 (58%)
History
Legislature terms5th National Assembly of Pakistan
SuccessorSecond Zulfikar

The First Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government was the government of Pakistan led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto from 1973 until 1977. It was formed after the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan was passed by the Parliament of Pakistan which fully re-established Pakistan as a parliamentary democracy. The government would oversee two different cabinets due to reshuffles, the First Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Cabinet ruled from 1973 until 1974, when the cabinet was reshuffled by Bhutto to the Second Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Cabinet which ruled from 1974 to 1977, which is when general elections were held, and the government was succeeded.

The prime minister of the government, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was acclaimed as a powerful and skilled politician who had served as President of Pakistan under a presidential system government from 1971 to 1973. He was sworn in as the prime minister of the country on 14 August 1973, after securing 108 votes in a house of 146 members. Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry was elected as the president under the new constitution. During its five years of government, the Bhutto administration implemented extensive reforms at every level of governance. Capital and Western reforms initiated and built in 1947 were transformed and replaced with a socialist system throughout the 1970s with extensive nationalization. Bhutto's policies were perceived as people-friendly but failed to yield long-lasting effects, and civil disorder against Bhutto and his administration began to escalate in his second government in 1977.