Elections were held in Pakistan today. A prerequisite for free and fair elections in Pakistan is the institution responsible for upholding democracy in accordance with the mandate of the people. However, the case of Pakistan appears to be different. On paper, the election board’s composition looks promising, with him represented by retired judges from four of the state’s high courts. But on the ground, the Election Commission of Pakistan is no different from any other biased institution.
Appropriately, since its founding, the country has been ruled by extra-democratic forces such as the military, bureaucracy and Punjabi landowners. The situation is more or less similar in our 75 years as a nation-state. The military and bureaucracy run the country with the help of Punjabi bigwigs.
To understand a little about the structure of the Election Commission, in addition to the Chief Election Commissioner, the other four Election Commissioners are from four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. I understand this. However, the dominant power remains in the hands of the election commission chairman. His CEC in Pakistan is typically an offshoot of the Pakistan Executive Service, which has a colonial pedigree, making him one of the country’s most influential and corrupt institutions.
Pakistan’s current Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja was hand-picked by the country’s powerful lobby. Raja’s father was born and raised in the Sargodha region of Punjab into a family of landowners and military personnel. His father was a military man. Since joining the Pakistan Administrative Service in 1989, he has been appointed to important positions. He held important posts in Pakistan’s government, including petroleum secretary, railway secretary, aviation secretary, and saffron secretary. After he retired in 2020, he became CEC.
Since then, there have been reports of irregularities by the CEC in various electoral processes. In mid-2022, Pakistan’s Punjab provincial parliament passed a resolution criticizing the CEC for its impartiality during election procedures. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party PTI has decided to go to court with the CEC, and two provincial governments, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have passed non-approval motions against their election chiefs.
These visible tensions between the military bureaucracy and the PTI-dominated government led the military to orchestrate Imran Khan’s ouster in a well-planned conspiracy. Mr Khan has previously been sentenced to prison in various corruption cases and is likely to remain in prison to stand trial in other cases until the election, and perhaps even after, and is expected to remain in prison for conviction and “moral corruption.” is not subject to public opinion polls based on It is important to note that Mr. Khan has also been subjected to a shady trial, and the court recently ordered a new public trial in the case against Mr. Khan.
In another development, the Election Commission of Pakistan also stripped PTI of its election symbol, the bat, in December last year. Although the Peshawar High Court granted relief to Mr. Khan’s party and restored its symbol, the Supreme Court annulled the Peshawar High Court’s decision and the poll body’s original decision on the stripping of PTI’s iconic bat symbol. ruled that it was correct. People familiar with the matter said the decision was likely imposed by the judiciary.
There is no doubt that the PTI enjoys wide support from the Pakistani people. The party plans to field candidates as independents, so it could lose some seats if it loses its election symbol. PTI leaders are aware that losing a famous election symbol will have some repercussions as it may confuse people who associate the ‘bat’ with former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Without a common symbol, the PTI would lose its designated seats in Pakistan’s parliament and provincial assemblies, amounting to around 225 seats.
A quick look back at past elections reveals that the last free and fair elections in the country were probably in 1970, when the Awami League won in East Punjab. However, this order was not accepted by West Pakistan’s military-political elite and caused a serious political crisis in the country, which ultimately ended with the creation of Bangladesh.
Since then, all elections in Pakistan have not been fair, and in 1977 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto held an election that was marked by allegations of fraud. This gave General Zia-ul-Haq the opportunity to overthrow the government, which he did, leading to 11 years of military rule in Pakistan and Bhutto’s execution. From the early 1990s to the present, not much has changed in Pakistan, except for a long period of military rule under General Pervez Musharraf.
Two parties, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz Sharif) and the Pakistan People’s Party (currently led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari), are in power with the military’s blessing. These parties were considered to be largely corrupt and did not enjoy the legitimacy necessary to rule the country.
Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) also received military support and widespread support for change. However, Imran Khan’s stance against the unjust military and bureaucratic control of Pakistan’s garrison country led to his planned expulsion. After his ouster, the country erupted in nationwide protests, demonstrating the legitimacy enjoyed by the former prime minister.
In Pakistan, the historical trend has been for power to be enjoyed by a privileged few who have held power for generations. The case of the Election Commission of Pakistan is no exception.
Power within an institution is usually vested in a single person, and the checks and balances of accountability in the post are not to the people of Pakistan, but to the dark circles that control the military, Punjabi bigwigs, and corrupt bureaucracy caucuses. of countries.
Pakistan’s military, which has bowed to Western pressure over the past decade, has not staged any coup attempt. However, there is a tacit understanding among political elites that the army, not the people or politicians, has the final say in this country’s democracy. Many observers have called what the military is doing a clear case of “election engineering.”
But it remains unclear what would be gained by restricting people’s right to vote for their favorite leader by rigging elections in favor of a few. Protests erupted after the ouster of Imran Khan, and for the first time the military faced the brunt of them.
Pakistan has been in a bad economic situation for decades, and there are few signs of improvement. The decline in public trust in key institutions such as the Election Commission and the military will have a serious impact on Pakistan, which is walking on eggshells and could collapse at any time.
(Rajiv Touri is a writer and commentator)
Disclaimer: These are the author’s personal opinions.