Is Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf left wing or right wing?

On economic organisation Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf scores +01 on a scale from −10 (common ownership) to +10 (private property and markets). On social and cultural order it scores +06. A single left–right figure combines these and four further measurements that move independently, which is why the atlas reports six.

Is Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf authoritarian?

On the organisation of power, which measures whether authority is dispersed among institutions that can stop each other or concentrated in a single centre, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf scores +04. Elected in 2018 with military backing, removed by parliamentary vote in 2022, its leader imprisoned and its symbol removed from the 2024 ballot.

Atlas / Organisations / Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

PTI · 1996– · Pakistan · Populist · Electoral party · coding confidence low

+01ECmarket

+06CUtraditional

+04AUmonist

+04SCcentral

+05IDascriptive

00CHbalanced

Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →

Core principles

Anti-corruption populism, welfare expansion, national dignity against foreign influence and dynastic parties.

Economic model

Health insurance card, housing programme, IMF programmes, tax base widening attempts.

Organisation of powers

Elected in 2018 with military backing, removed by parliamentary vote in 2022, its leader imprisoned and its symbol removed from the 2024 ballot.

Reading note

Coded at low confidence. Pakistan's real authority coordinate is set substantially by an institution that does not stand in elections.

Check a claim about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

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The evidence for every score

All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.

EC · Economic organisation · scored +01

Coded +1: welfare expansion under IMF conditionality.

Documented act or statuteThe Sehat Sahulat health insurance card and Ehsaas transfer programme were introduced from 2019.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored +06

Coded +6: religious conservatism alongside anti-corruption populism.

Documented act or statuteThe government negotiated with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik movement rather than confronting it.

AU · Organisation of power · scored +04

Coded +4 with low confidence: elected, removed by parliamentary vote, then excluded from the ballot.

Documented act or statuteRemoved by a no-confidence vote in 2022; its electoral symbol was withdrawn before the 2024 election, forcing candidates to run as independents.

SC · Scale of decision · scored +04

Coded +4: a federation with a strong centre and a powerful military.

Documented act or statuteThe 18th amendment devolved substantial powers to provinces in 2010, before the party's term.

ID · Rule of membership · scored +05

Coded +5: religious-national framing and blasphemy law unchanged.

Documented act or statuteThe government supported the existing blasphemy laws and negotiated with religious movements after protests.

CH · Method and tempo · scored 00

Coded at zero: electoral, with mass protest after its leader's imprisonment.

Documented act or statuteSupporters attacked military installations in May 2023 following the arrest.

Nearest organisations by measured distance

Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.

Countries

Pakistan

Cite this page

Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.

McGrath, K. (2026). Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/pti/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.