ELECTORAL POSTERS IN PAKISTAN:A REFLECTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY,IDEOLOGY OR POPULISM

Abstract

This article examines how electoral posters in Pakistan function as complex visual texts reflecting and constructing national identity, ideological narratives, and populist appeals. While posters are often viewed as peripheral campaign artifacts, this study argues they play a central role in shaping voter perceptions, especially within a hybrid democratic context marked by high visual literacy but low textual context. This study seeks the answers to question: to what extent do electoral posters in Pakistan reflect national identity, ideology or populism?  The study employs a qualitative, multi-method approach combining Cognitive Metaphor Theory, Visual Semiotics, and Critical Discourse Analysis. Twelve iconic posters from four major political parties (PPP, PML-N, PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami) were purposively sampled and analysed to decode how visual and textual strategies co-produce political meaning.

Findings reveal that posters rarely express a single theme: they blend national symbols (flag, Quran, lion cricket bat), cognitive metaphors (Leader as Saviour, Change as Rebirth), and emotionally charged slogans to simplify complex ideologies into accessible, persuasive narratives. PPP and PML-N posters foreground national identity and developmental nationalism; Jamaat-e-Islami’s posters articulate an explicit ideological vision linking faith and governance; while PTI posters embody populist anti-elite discourse, visually framing Imran Khan as a heroic agent of moral cleansing. By integrating visual and textual analysis, the article demonstrates that electoral posters are not passive reflections of political culture but active rhetorical tools that construct legitimacy, mobilize support, and shape democratic imagination. The study contributes to new research by offering an empirically grounded, theoretically informed analysis of visual politics in South Asia, and by showing how posters serve as overlapping sites of national identity, ideology, and populism.