Electoral upset in AJK

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is going to form the next government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir

Although the final results are not yet in the indications are that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is going to form the next government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). It is beginning to look like something of a landslide victory for the PML-N and runs counter to pre-election speculation that the vote would result in a split mandate. The PML-N has virtually wiped out its rivals the Pakistan People’s Party who had held power, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf who were newcomers to AJK politics. Polling has passed off relatively peacefully and there have been no reports of major disturbance or violence, and thus far nobody has shouted ‘rigged’ in respect of the polls which is in considerable contrast to virtually every other election held in AJK. Voter verification was tight and supported by a heavy security contingent which included 17,000 army personnel as well as the police from the Frontier Constabulary, AJK itself, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

That the election has passed relatively peacefully and without loss of life or destruction of property along the way is in itself something of a milestone, and credit has to be given to the administration as well as the electorate for keeping its collective head. As for the outcome, the toppling of the PPP and in such salutary manner is yet another nail in the coffin of a once-grand political party which is now reduced to its original power base in Sindh. The outcome also confirms very emphatically the grip that the PML-N has electorally on the country, moving into the position of ubiquity that used to be the domain of the PPP but now is no longer. For the PTI there was also something of a comeuppance, and at best it has put down markers rather than made a mark, again perhaps indicative of where the party is going in electoral terms nationally.

It is now for the PML-N to deliver the goods, a delivery that has been at best partially successful elsewhere in Pakistan. AJK have voted for change and it is now for the PML-N to fulfil the promises of the campaign trail. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2016.

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