Daily Times

PTI has emerged victorious in the 2018 electoral contest. The official results will be consolidated and announced by ECP today. Where do we go from here?

Even before the final results were in, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), Mutahhida Majilis-e-Amal (MMA), and most other parties have rejected the results. Surprisingly, even the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was also crying foul.

In the hours before counting began, the biggest issue was that there were too many voters and too little time. The process was extremely slow and began later in many constituencies. Despite a call for an extension in the final time, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) refused to accommodate any voters beyond the 6pm deadline; if someone made it inside a polling station in time then they could cast their vote, and if they didn’t, well then, they could hold their peace till next election. Despite their original reservations, most parties moved on from this problem.

But then came the counting of votes. As things stand, there were many constituencies from where polling agents were told to return and no form 45 was issued. The elections apparently have a bit of a transparency problem.

Understandably, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is the only major party not crying foul this election.

This isn’t the first time that democratic parties in Pakistan have complained about rigging, but it is perhaps the first time they have all been unified with the exact same complaint.

Are we headed towards a new democratic term or are we headed towards more turbulence? The upcoming few days will tell. The only thing we can say for sure is that our democracy needs much more investment by all concerned before we claim that it has won.  *

Published in Daily Times, July 26^th 2018.