Daily Times

Orchestrated political rhetoric and targeted terrorism wave triggered deep chaos about the prospects of elections before 8 February. Fortunately, the election took place as per schedule across Pakistan. Credit goes to all the state institutions who collaborated in the desired manner under a highly challenging environment.

As of today, much of the election process is over. National and provincial houses have started functioning as per the laid down constitutional scheme. PM in the centre and four Chief Ministers of the provinces have also been sworn in. The transition of power would be completed after the election of the president which is scheduled on 9th March.

With the formation of federal and provincial cabinets, formal routine functioning of the state machinery will resume soon. Ruling the country will not be a simple affair for the new government due to complicated challenges under prevailing testing times. The nation is desperately looking forward to the restoration of stability. The past two years proved that political disorder is the root cause of perpetuating instability. Immaturity displayed on the floor of parliament in opening sessions is quite disappointing for the nation. Billions were spent by the national exchequer on the election process to bring the chosen ones to sail the country out of the choppy waters. Overplay of the rigging mantra is not the right way to perform under the prevailing poly crisis. The split mandate is the bitter outcome of a multi-layered division inflicted upon the poor nation by none other than the political wizards. Factually, none of the political parties could gain the trust of the majority to run the state on its own in the Center. However, this democratic luxury is available to PPP, PMLN and PTI-SIC in Sind, Punjab and KP respectively. Flexible players have managed to form the government in the centre. After this initial management of the split mandate, the upcoming government will be confronting real challenges in the governance domain.

Elected representatives are now responsible for delivering the promised results

Opposition dominated by the PTI-backed SIC members is not inclined towards working in collaboration with the ruling benches for much-needed political stability. It seems glued with the populist rhetoric revolving around victimhood and election rigging mantra. A letter written recently to the IMF by PTI on the precise dictation of its jailed founding leader is a strong sign of a confrontational approach. Though, the IMF had dusted down the controversial plea with a clear stance, however, dent intended by the unwise political players is more obvious. The past track record of political parties on the issue of election rigging is neither encouraging nor appreciable.

Infamous 35 punctures narrative eventually busted on the face of the complaining party in the court. This notorious precedence of rejecting the election results on the vague plea of rigging must be finished for the betterment of democracy in Pakistan. Leaving aside the political web woven with the rigging rhetoric by the losing parties; more attention is needed on the questionable performance of ECP and the prevailing procedural flaws hindering the fair conduct of elections. After accomplishing the electoral process, now the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is confronted with the rigging allegations. Swift hearing of the complaints is the best available way forward with the ECP to deal with the current situation. It is worth noting that the successful execution of polling is mostly restricted to the casting of votes which as a whole remained smooth. Complaints of rigging are mostly pointing out the problems in the result compilation process. During the 2018 elections, losing parties levelled rigging allegations after ECP attributed the delay in the result announcement to the failure of RTS. PTI government, being the winning beneficiary of that controversy, never bothered seriously to investigate the fundamental flaws in the election process. This time again ECP could not compile and announce the results swiftly in the prescribed time. The reasons behind this usual delay in the compilation process are yet to be precisely identified. Premature one-sided rejection of the whole electoral process is not justified especially once the complaining party has swept the KP province election and her supported candidates also won the maximum seats in the National Assembly as well. All parties collectively failed to build a consensus over much-needed election reforms between 2018 to 2023.

The burden of this collective failure should not be shifted to the shoulders of other state institutions. The performance of ECP, the conduct of elections and the unimpressive response of the losing parties is no different from the past. The writing on the wall is very clear! The solution to the current poly crisis is dependent on political stability and financial credibility. Elected representatives are now responsible for delivering the promised results.

They should take a break from the current confrontational mode by paying more attention to deliverance and responsible governance. Pakistan cannot afford further polarization, confrontation and deviation from the path of stability.

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