General elections: Empowered public to vote for change

Citizens talk about their problems and why they would vote.

LAHORE:

As election preparations gear up in the City, most of the voters in NA-126 are optimistic they can bring about a change by voting on May 11.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Rana Ijaz, a political science professor at the Punjab University, said he did not foresee a completely free and fair election as the security situation in the country was far from satisfactory. He said he still expected most people to exercise their right to vote.

Ijaz, who said he would vote for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, said he had had enough of family-based politics.

Amna Khalid, studying international relations at PU, said she wanted the new government to end corruption, create jobs and promote merit.

Khalid, who would not disclose which party she would vote for, also said she wanted gender equality and an end to discrimination against women.

“I will vote for PTI as it has a solid foreign policy,” said Zaigham Siddique, another international relations student at PU.“Drone attacks in the country should be stopped,” he added.

Siddique’s sentiments were echoed by another political science student at PU, Haider Jameel, who said he too would vote for PTI.

He said terrorist attacks in Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi should be stopped. “I will vote with an expectation that the new government will restore peace and put an end to terrorism,” said Jameel.

Bashir Ahmed, a civil servant, said he would vote for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. He said he believed PML-N could resolve the energy crisis. He said he was hopeful that labourers would work again in factories closed down because of the crisis.

Then there are others who only want the new government to provide them with basic amenities of life. The rest, they say, may be taken care of later.

“Load shedding is the maim problem…I will vote for whoever can resolve this issue,” said Ijaz Ahmed, a fruit vendor.

“To be honest, I will not vote”, “when there is no electricity for 12 hours and no CNG for my Suzuki who should I vote for?’’ said a driver.

“The federal government kept saying electricity is a provincial matter and the provincial government blamed the federal…what will my vote change? Nothing,” he said.

Muhammad Salim, a property dealer, said he too would vote PML-N because the party was ‘experienced.’ “We should not experiment with leaders…I will vote for Nawaz Sharif who has worked alright in the past,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2013.