The quest for perfection

We Pakistanis are perfectionists. We want everything to be done properly and immediately. Any long wait, or processing, or contemplation, annoys us and therefore we do not bother with it at all. Unless something is done perfectly, it should not be done, we believe. Perfection or Nothing, we say.

This theme can be clearly seen in the election rigging fiasco, which hopefully has been clearly laid to rest by the judicial commission’s very clear judgment. The honourable judges concluded that “taking into account all the evidence on record, notwithstanding the shortcomings of the ECP … the 2013 general elections were in large part organised fairly and in accordance with the law”. This judgment, however, could be passed on any election around the world — India, the UK, or even the US (remember Florida in 2000?) — since all elections are flawed in some respect and most countries continuously try to improve their systems.

For example, in the UK, there was a vote in 2011 to move from the ‘first past the post’ system of elections to the ‘alternative voting’ system, a move which was ultimately rejected by two-thirds of the population. In India, too, the election commission keeps improving its functioning and the introduction of electronic voting machines throughout the country in 2004, after experimental use since 1998, was a huge improvement. Similarly, there are electoral reform movements in Canada and Australia, for example. Hence, every democracy continuously keeps improving.

In the Pakistani context, we never talk of reform, but wholesale change. In its public rhetoric, the PTI never focused on electoral reform, which Pakistan should undertake, but wanted the whole election thrown out because of problems with the system. The emphasis that an election is only acceptable when there is no rigging at all in any shape or form was so ridiculous — especially when this stipulation will cancel almost every other election held in the world — that it took away from the real issue of electoral reform in the country. The real reason why the PTI, perhaps, did not talk about reform which would really ascertain the will of the people is because the party itself — like a number of other parties — do not really care about what the people think unless they think what the PTI thinks. The rights of the people were second place to the right of the PTI to win an election, it seemed, especially since miraculously rigging was only alleged in places where the PTI lost and not where it won.

The manner in which the PTI ran the whole campaign, dharnas, protests, mudslinging, etc., shows how even the so-called ‘educated’ and ‘middle class’ party is still extremely immature. After costing the country billions of rupees in security costs, cleaning costs, disruption costs, etc., all we know at the end of the judicial commission is that there were some flaws in the 2013 election, which need to be fixed — something we knew on election day itself. The damage the PTI has done to the current government due to its antics, to democracy, by its misplaced emphasis, and to its own self by its haughtiness and self-centredness, might be hard to quantify, but the people of Pakistan are and will be paying for it through a further retardation of the nascent process of democracy in their country.

The ball is now in the court of the political parties. The verdict of the judicial commission has very clearly opened the way for meaningful dialogue on electoral reform. The government party needs to take the lead here and bring all parties on board for improvements in the electoral process in the country — something which will and should take some time, and should be a continuous process. But no electoral reform will work unless all parties show a clear and unequivocal commitment — intellectually and practically — to democracy. Without this commitment, no amount of electoral reform will empower the people and make their lives better. The door is now open for ‘real’ change — I hope we don’t lose this chance.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th,  2015.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.