Pakistan Muslim League (N)

The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (abbr. PML(N), PMLN or PML-N) is a Pakistani political party with a centre and centre-right political position and a liberal conservative ideology. It is one of the three major mainstream political parties alongside the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. PML-N currently holds the most electoral seats in the National Assembly; and third-most in the Senate. It is currently leading the federal government in the executive, alongside a majoritarian government in Sindh; Punjab; and is also a part of the Peoples Party-led coalition in Balochistan.

The PMLN was founded in 1993, following the dissolution of the Islamic Democratic Alliance (IDA), under the leadership of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the party's platform is generally described as nationalist and conservative, supporting free markets, deregulation, lower taxes, private ownership, and advocating for peace through strength policy. Although the party initially supported social conservatism, its political platform has been described in recent years as more moderately conservative.

One of several continuing factions of the original Muslim League in India, the seeds of the party were sown following the general elections in 1985 when then-Prime Minister Muhammad Junejo organised the supporters of President Zia-ul-Haq's presidency into a single platform, known as the Pakistan Muslim League. After President Zia-ul-Haq's death in 1988, under the leadership of Fida Mohammad, a large faction split away from the Junejo-led Pakistan Muslim League, and formed a conservative alliance with various right-wing and Islamist political parties, called the Islamic Democratic Alliance. The alliance formed a government in 1990 under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif. In 1993, the alliance dissolved and the party assumed its current shape, branding itself as the "Nawaz" faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, in contrast to the "Junejo" faction.

Members of the party have been accused of using Islamist and right-wing populist rhetoric. The PML-N administrations have been called an "authoritarian regime" by The Economist Democracy Index surveys.

After the breakdown of the relationship with the military in 1999, the party was eclipsed by its own splinter faction, the Musharraf-backed "Quaid", for almost a decade. Its appeal to traditional values and further to the conservative platform helped regained the regained popularity in general elections in 2008. In 2013, the party returned to power with Sharif elected as the prime minister for an unprecedented third term following the general elections, with Sharif.