Summing it up

Elections 2018 were overall successful in returning power and hope to the people. Citizens are perhaps looking towards overcoming unemployment and poverty hardships they had to endure under previous regimes. The vigour of the people is refreshing but in the spirit of progress, there are matters to be analysed for improvement in the next polls.

Let us begin with the basics. As if it were not slightly silly that polling in the country was completed via manual paper ballot counting leaving much room for human error, we would like state respectfully that more concerning was the fact that 4,945 polling stations operated on July 25^th without basic facilities, mostly in Sindh. Without facilities such as fans and portable toilets for able-bodied voters, expecting facilitation for the elderly and differently-abled persons was asking for the impossible. Incontrovertibly, our public spaces need major transformation for better equipping to aid persons in wheelchairs, carrying oxygen tanks, or in some ways requiring assistance to complete the tasks of daily living, despite possessing the same mental faculties as others.

As regards transgender persons, reports of officials refusing to allow transgender observers — officially hired by the ECP — to enter polling stations should be scrutinised by the elections monitoring and complaint cell. Better practices of inclusion need to be adopted. Claims of some transgender community members staying away from polling stations to avoid ridiculous remarks, despite voting being their civic duty as equal citizens are pitiful. Similarly, although the ECP took notice of remote villages in K-P where men barred women from voting, some villages successfully overcame this regressive move. Change will be gradual, but imminent since in other districts, more women from tribal areas exercised their right to vote, thereby showing a remarkable progress from the previous elections.

In sum, the 2018 elections were successful, as confirmed by the EU observers’ team, despite cries of foul by other parties. For 2023, the ECP will need to make improvements as they will be working under circumstances of renewed optimism and hope. First on the agenda, we hope, will be ensuring safety to protect human collateral in the country’s complicated road to true democracy.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2018.

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