Election results: the right mix

A professor of political science in my university once quoted Mr William Buckley, Jr: “I’d rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.” I have always wondered if one can say that about Pakistan.

In the last decade, many people questioned the direction our country was headed in. People had begun to doubt the governance model in Pakistan, the very covenant between the people and the government. The recent election process has proven to be just what Pakistan needed. As opposed to all the self-loathing of the last few years, these elections have given us a chance to revel in some self-aggrandisement. Even though our interests were divergent when we cast our votes, our collective power has put our country back on track.

No one should be able to govern without having to prove their credentials in terms of governance, especially with the crisis we are facing right now. The people have given their verdict: the PTI is given a chance to produce results in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), while the PML-N is given a chance to replicate its successes in Punjab in the rest of the country.



There is just the right mix in place to put the country back on track, and relieve it from the crippling conditions that we find ourselves in. The PML-N has been handed a clear mandate to tackle some daunting challenges, while the PTI is in place to keep the PML-N in check at the federal level. The PTI has been handed the toughest challenge to turn around K-P, which is facing the brunt of our national maladies. K-P lags in almost every indicator of human development: low student enrolment, low student achievement, poor healthcare, gender inequality, etc.

In addition, the emphatic way the people have given their answer to the Taliban is heart-warming. Now, some would argue that the parties who did well in the elections were actually the ones spared the wrath of the Taliban, but this is a case of association, not causation. The PPP has paid for a poor economy, corruption scandals and the general disarray of its election campaign. Perhaps, that is why it chose to focus on the past sacrifices of its leaders and negative propaganda against the PML-N, as opposed to harping on its achievements in its election campaign. The ANP, on the other hand, paid a heavy price for its anti-Taliban stance. With the mandate that the people of K-P have handed to the PTI, it is pretty evident that the ANP lost based on its performance rather than a non-existent election campaign.

On the other hand, the PML-N has produced some promising results in Punjab: significant investment in infrastructure, education and healthcare, while remaining unscathed by corruption allegations. In addition, its leadership has refrained from indulging in the politics of the 1990s — no more back-room deals to overthrow the government or trysts with the military. In fact, it joined hands with the PPP to pass constitutional amendments that will bear a good impact on how democracy will continue to function in Pakistan.

Many candidates with a history of corruption allegations have been voted out of power. Hopefully, repeated election cycles will filter out the incompetent. We have punished bad governance and rewarded those who have promised to deliver real results. When we resolve to make a difference, it collectively translates into the promising verdict that was delivered in the elections. We no longer have a reason to doubt the capacity of our system to deliver, but we do need to continue to question it.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2013.