After ten manipulated ballots since 1970, Pakistan is gearing up for another vote. Hopefully, the will of the people will prevail, and the homeland will remain intact. Promises are made by the powerful and mighty but not much has changed on the ground. Ultimately the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has to deliver. It is widely believed that the establishment agreed to a free and fair election in 1970 as a split mandate was expected. The results were surprising. Two major anti-establishment parties emerged. Mujib-ur-Rehman’s Awami League won 160/162 seats in the Eastern Wing while Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s People’s Party captured 81/138 constituencies in the West. Rest is history. Sahibzada Yaqoob Ali Khan, the military commander on the ground, proposed a political solution which was overruled. Quaid’s Pakistan was dismembered. Bangladesh emerged on the world map. In 2018 again there is the talk of a split mandate on the one hand: the party in power desires an absolute 2/3 majority to amend the constitution, while on the other, the slogan is Vote ko izzat do (Respect the ballot) while the coercive state apparatus remains in place. Thana, Patwarkhana and the schools where balloting takes place all belong to the party in power. NADRA’s electoral lists have to be checked together with the delimitation of constituencies. A lot of homework needs to be done to ensure another credible ballot whose results are acceptable to all parties. It is widely believed that the establishment agreed to a free and fair election in 1970 as a split mandate was expected. Two major anti-establishment parties emerged, Mujib-ur-Rehman’s Awami League and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party For democracy to take roots, the democratic players have to take responsibility. They must learn to look inwards, not seek outside facilitation. There should be a discussion and debate on the framework of a free and fair election together with agreement on the redressal of complaints through election tribunals. There should be no delays through stay orders. All electoral cases should have top priority. Pakistan has been well served by truly elected political leadership. Quaid-e-Azam appointed the first cabinet consisting of all elected representatives in August 1947. Quaid-e-Awam led the second real cabinet in 1971; rest have been cabinets that have worked against public interests. There has been a significant disconnect between the voter and the constituent together with glaring electoral flaws. Only a credible ballot can produce strong political leadership. All GHQ political experiments have produced disastrous leadership. PML (Convention), PML (Functional), PML (Quaid), MQM, MMA have all failed. The revival of another version of MMA is not in the interest of democracy and should be avoided. The Chief Justice of Pakistan has promised free and fair elections. It is not a small undertaking. I wish and pray for his success, but he needs more than our prayers. Ground realities and precedents are grim, yet we must not give up as democracy is the only way forward. Constitution has to be followed in letter and spirit. Another stark failure of democracy has been the lack of local government as envisioned by the constitution. All elected governments have been reluctant in devolving power down to the people where it rightfully belongs. Currently, the CJP is hearing the cases regarding misappropriation of funds by several public sector companies formed in Punjab to do the tasks assigned to the local governments. This may be an opportunity to bundle all the elections together. While a caretaker government is formed to hold national elections, the elected governments usurp the rights of the local governments. This task can also be assigned to the caretakers this time. All elected positions including the local governments should be elected together with the complete transfer of power all the way down to Union Councils. It will then be top-down and then bottom-up democracy that the country badly needs. As a nation, we must prepare and stand-up for our will to prevail through a credible electoral exercise followed by transfer of power to the true representative of the people Transparency, debate, discussion and participation are the basic ingredients of a democratic order which have been missing in the country since July 1977. Periods of real democracy have been brief (1947 to 1954, 1971 to 1977); rest have either been dictatorial or a political circus. As a nation, we have wasted 40 years of our existence (1977 to 2017). There is some hope in 2018 as important organs of the state are talking about free and fair elections, and those who stole the votes in the past are demanding ‘Izzat for the Vote’. For docile non-revolutionary people like us, this may be an effective way forward. Transparency should start at the ballot box; every vote should be counted and traceable. Those who then get elected must debate and discuss followed by the participation of the masses for democracy to function. As a nation, we must prepare and stand-up for our will to prevail through a credible electoral exercise followed by transfer of power to the true representative of the people not just to the national or provincial assemblies but all the way down to the Union Councils where real people struggle to survive. Let 2018 be a major milestone in our democratic journey resulting in the much needed democratic renaissance to take place. The writer is Ex-Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation. He can be reached at fmaliks@hotmail.com Published in Daily Times, April 8th 2018.