Daily Times

Elections scheduled on 8th February matter a lot for Pakistan. The collective wisdom of the nation will be tested on the small ballot paper. Accurate use of votes can put the country back on track to stability. At the same time, a vote thrown away carelessly to an unworthy candidate would be a great injustice to the democracy of Pakistan.

The strength of the vote must be realized precisely in the context of recent unpleasant developments attached to political ups and downs. PTI was shown an exit gate from power corridors by the political opponents with a difference of just two votes. PDM’s much-celebrated success in a vote of no confidence against the non-delivering government of PTI came with a heavy cost.

The subsequent coalition government could not deliver in the desired manner. Most pinching economic deterioration was nothing but a bitter replay of flop governance under an unprepared political alliance. So it would not be an exaggeration that an unprecedentedly turbulent situation triggered by a confidence motion against PTI turned into a hard test for all stakeholders. While political parties had their due share of hard-earned failures, the public remained the absolute loser during the past five years.

Wrong choices made on voting day fell very heavily on the public. Elected parliamentarians, irrespective of party affiliations, collectively failed their voters on many accounts. Let’s take a glance first at the blunders of the PTI committed brazenly in political battlegrounds. Knowing well the bleak track record of coalition governments, PTI opted to put on the thorny crown without any preparations and doable plans. Punjab, the largest province, was left at the mercy of an extremely inactive CM.

Most pinching economic deterioration was nothing but a bitter replay of flop governance under an unprepared political alliance.

The party had no economic plan. Diplomacy was in a mess as usual. The crusade against corruption was nothing more than an attractive slogan. Practically the sensitive matters of accountability were tackled solely by a man who himself is a fugitive stationed in the UK. Seasonal birds were given the maximum share of the cabinet pie. Scandalous matrimonial affairs, corruption scams, derogatory abusive campaigns, populist speeches and a barrage of allegations were offered instead of good governance.

No genius can easily comprehend the logic behind the collective resignations from the national assembly and the unnecessary dissolution of two provincial assemblies against the collective wisdom of party leadership. Consequences and losses are undeniable. Outrageous strategy eventually led to the political debacle and mutilation of the party.

Flop ruling party was only good in verbosity, exchange of allegations, fabrication of populist narratives, derogatory social media campaigns and clashes with state institutions. Bleak default prophecies by the ousted PM played a key role in shattering the financial stability. Consequently, Pakistan had to face the most troublesome economic challenge and unmanageable inflation wave. The flop show of the PDM government after the PTI tenure proved the last straw on the back of a camel.

Political disorder is the real root cause of growing instability. Political parties, aspiring for the next government, should accept the election results without any hesitation and spanners. Lacklustre brief election campaigns of the major political parties are quite discouraging. Most of the speeches revolve around rhetorical narration of victimhood stories and heavy accusations of opponent leaders.

Level-playing field terminology has been coined in this election season to obtain the sympathies of the voters. Parties seem more inclined towards hiding their performance failures and handicaps with distractive social media campaigns. Hesitation from realistic introspection is detrimental to the democratic growth of the country. A rotten political culture infected with dynastic tendencies and cult-style fan following needs to be altered. This substitution is not possible without educating the voters, who happen to be the real stakeholders in a democratic system.

Unfortunately, the past ruling party is deeply involved in sabotaging the electoral process by unnecessarily locking horns with the constitutional institution of the Election Commission of Pakistan. Election predictions are not a crime but the creation of false optics about the popularity of a particular party cannot be graded as healthy politics.

Recently released survey reports of IRIS and VoA have challenged the over-projected popularity claims of the PTI and pointed out the vote swing in favour of PMLN and PPPP, particularly in Punjab. Precise predictions about election results may not be possible at this stage, however, agenda-driven advance hype by infamous keyboard warriors of PTI is a great disservice to the crippling political system.

Besides victimhood hue and cry, reportedly, the past ruling party had conceived a plan to claim the victory of independent contestants to prove its overblown popularity. As a matter of fact, quite a good number of independents manage to win in every election. About 38 independent candidates won NA seats during past elections. Voters are quite upset with repeated governance failures and unfulfilled hollow promises of mainstream political parties.

A successful transition to a reliable democratic system is only possible with a fundamental change in the political approach of leadership. Non-stop marching towards an undefined destination on the drumbeat of rhetorical fallacies is not an affordable option any more.

A graduate of QAU, PhD scholar & freelance writer. Can be reached at fa7263125@gmail.com