PPP victory baffles observers

The ruling party in Sindh, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has surprisingly swept the local government (LG) elections in most of the urban and rural areas of Sindh where millions of people devastated by last year's flood have been left to fend for themselves in the harsh winter.

The LG results showed that the PPP won 93 union committee (UC) seats out of 246 in Karachi and became the single majority party in Hyderabad securing 58 UCs, including 15 uncontested. The party claims that the people have reposed trust in its leadership which is a testament of its performance.

But political analysts believe there have been several factors at play that might have benefited the PPP. These include absence of a viable alternative to the PPP; the state's efforts to stage-manage the polls; and the influence of the electables. KN Shah Town, the tehsil headquarters of Dadu District, was among the worst hit areas of Sindh where the floods had left tens of thousands of people shelter-less.

They were left in the lurch and the official indifference triggered huge protests against the government where protesters pledged not to vote for the PPP ever. Johi, another tehsil of the district, was also devastated by the deluge. The people, left abandoned by the government, had done whatever they could on a self-help basis to salvage their town.

Surprisingly, the PPP candidates swept all seven wards of Johi town, according to the local bodies' (LB) election results. "There were no strong political rivals to the ruling party in the polls. Secondly, local people have not been sensitized about the genuine issues and they took the devastating rains and floods as God's will," Engineer Sattar Khoso, a social activist from Johi, told The Express Tribune. Moreover, Khoso said, "In some cases, the candidates also bribed the poor voters through local influential people."

He added that the PPP faced a historic defeat in Mehar and other areas where its political rivals were strong. "Liaquat Jatoi of the PTI using his personal influence defeated the PPP in Mehar winning eight wards of the total 14," he said, adding that the same thing happened in Matiari where the PPP lost the election to the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) candidates. The PPP also won big in the districts of Sehwan, Hyderabad, Karachi, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, and Jamshoro. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the party chairman, and other PPP leaders were of the view that the Sindh government's performance in the flood relief activities was the main reason for the party's electoral success.

"The Chief Minister, his team as well as the PPP leaders and ministers have been working day and night for the betterment of the province. The LG results have proven that the PPP still lives in the hearts of people," Asif Ali Zardari, cochairman of the party, said in a thanksgiving message. Independent political analysts dispute the narrative. "The PPP's success in the LB elections cannot be attributed to its performance or popularity among the masses. It is a result of tactics, management, and manipulation of constituencies rather than performance," said writer Ashgar Soomro, who originally belongs to Dadu District. He added that there was no strong alternative to the PPP in the areas where it claimed to have swept the polls.

"The Grand Democratic Alliance and other Sindhi nationalist parties are not so organized. Mostly, they have people with a feudal mindset who don't believe in grass-roots politics. If wellestablished parties like the PTI or PML-N had focused more on Sindh, it would not have been easy for the PPP to sweep the elections," Soomro said, adding that to some extent the flood victims also trusted the ruling party's promises of rebuilding their houses and other incentives in future.

Dr Najma Noor, a sociologist who severed as chairperson of the sociology department at Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur Mir said people living in Sindh like other parts of the country are trapped under the influence of feudalism.

"This is a feudal system in which some influential families or groups control the people using different ways and means," she said adding that slight change is taking place in Sindh with the advent of new technology and a boom of social media, but it will take time to achieve tangible results.