An expanding democracy

By their very nature, countries that have a democratic system, that involves the representation of the people by elected assemblies at federal and local levels, are constantly evolving. There are different forms of democracy, and the predominant format in Pakistan is a version embracing elective feudalism and political dynasties that have little or nothing by way of democracy in their genes. Political power has been in the hands of relatively few individuals and families since Partition, and this group of men and a few women have viewed with a gelid eye the prospect of grassroots democratic processes finding traction, hence the delay in local bodies elections almost everywhere except, paradoxically, Balochistan.

And now, after a hiatus of 17 years, the democratic mix was enhanced by elections in the cantonment boards. Almost two million people were eligible to cast their votes in the 43 cantonments spread across 29 districts in the country. There were just over a million men and a little under a million women who had to choose between 1,151 candidates, a striking number — 610 — of whom were independent and not affiliated to any political party. The 541 who were affiliated were led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with 137 candidates and it is going to be interesting to see how the PTI fares in the cantonments. It is likely that the results will be a bellwether for future local bodies elections. A clearer picture is going to emerge as to the changes — or not — that have been brought to the political scenery by the rise of the PTI. As with the recent by-election held in Karachi, security is being provided — at the request of the Election Commission of Pakistan — by the army and the Rangers. This was a successful strategy in Karachi and delivered something close to a free and fair election with relatively little disturbance. The cantonment areas are generally peaceful and secure and voting proceeded largely smoothly. It has been a long and bumpy road, but Pakistan is beginning to find its democratic feet, and we hope for further democratic expansion in future.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2015.

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