Pakistan: 2013 Election: hopes and fears

EDITORIAL: Daily Times

The general elections today are historic for a number of reasons. It is the first time that a democratically elected government has completed its term and is set to transfer power to another democratic dispensation. The outgoing coalition government successfully built consensus around the 18th constitutional amendment, which laid the institutional groundwork for the appointment of a neutral Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and caretaker setup, accepted by all political forces. First the first time since 1970, the apolitical youth born in Zia’s era have been mobilized in large numbers and a third force, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, is set to make its mark. Had it not been for the terrorist violence that marred the election campaign and the utter failure of the ECP, caretaker government and the security establishment to take action against the perpetrators, this election would truly have been a free, fair and transparent election without question. It is very unfortunate that targeted violence created a sharp divide among political parties, and in the federation. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) declared war against the secular parties, i.e. the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), while the right-of-centre parties carried out their campaigning unscathed. Likewise, Punjab has been relatively safe while the smaller provinces have suffered the brunt of violence. In Balochistan, the major threat came from Baloch insurgents, who do not have faith in the democratic process in the circumstances afflicting Balochistan and want to sabotage the electoral exercise in the province. According to a report of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, in April alone 81 people were killed and 348 injured in 56 incidents of militant violence directed at political workers and candidates across Pakistan. ANP has been the most affected party in terms of loss of life and casualties, and had to limit its activities to corner meetings and door-to-door campaigns. MQM’s campaign in Karachi has also been affected by the threat of violence. Lack of effective leadership and the threat of violence kept the PPP out of the field for the most part. It is quite possible that the result would have been the same had these parties been allowed to run their campaign freely because the public has been very disappointed by their failure to deliver during the past five years. However, now these parties might be tempted to attribute their failure to the denial of a level playing field. They might accuse hidden forces of planning to keep the relatively liberal, secular forces out of the game. Although they have shown maturity and did not call for the postponement of the elections, polling in the given circumstances falls short of being called fair. There is still a glimmer of hope in this whole exercise. The rightist parties have run their campaign with great fanfare throughout Pakistan. PTI has played a big role in engaging youth and creating political consciousness among them through its slogan of change. If the newly registered voters as well as non-voters in previous elections come out today, they can swing the results in favour of PTI. However, most predictions rule out the sweep Imran Khan has been hoping for. Thus, for the foreseeable future, the name of the game in Pakistan would be coalition governments. This election will set a precedent for the smooth democratic transfer of power in Pakistan. However, the threat of militant violence is not over yet. People standing in long queues to cast their votes today would present soft targets for militants. The caretaker government has been found lacking in ensuring security of candidates and workers and showed the same ineptitude by not asking the army to deploy its personnel around sensitive polling stations until very late. Let’s hope that this day will pass without a major disruption and the losing forces will not make an issue out of the security threats and accept the results. Today is truly history in the making. Let us not be found wanting.