NA-122 by-poll — all to play for

With campaigning for the Lahore NA-122 constituency now over and the polling stations opening today, the stage is set for what both sides are seeing as something of a political showdown. Both the PML-N and the PTI have campaigned hard, with the PTI challenging in the PML-N heartland of Punjab. There have been some theatricals from PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who as is his wont has been hurling around all sorts of unsubstantiated accusations, against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in particular. The name-calling and finger-pointing goes both ways — Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has called Imran Khan a “traitor” for instance. There have also been fingers pointed towards “foreign funding” going into the PTI coffers — and whatever fig-leaf of decorum was present at the start of the campaign has been blown away by windy bombast.

Political theatricals aside, it is now for the voter to decide, and there can be no doubt that the polls will be closely scrutinised for any sign of irregularity or rigging. The result is going to be a barometer for the political weather. The government of Nawaz Sharif is around half way through its term and has of late come in for something of a battering for failing to meet electoral promises. There is nowhere else for the PML-N to hide, and it can no longer claim to be clearing up the mess left by its predecessor. Whatever mess the country is in now — and there is no shortage of messes — the PML-N has to own them. Voters may be aware of governmental deficits and choose to put their cross in a PTI box.

Conversely, voters may decide to stick with the devil they know rather than the devil they do not — at least in terms of democratic process and governance. It is a truism that ‘all politics is local’; and for the PTI to persuade voters to look to their record of governance in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is a faint expectation indeed. But should the PTI win, then it could be the writing on the wall for the PML-N. All to be revealed by the morning of October 12.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2015.

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