Overview
Recently, clashes among different political parties especially in the capital of Pakistan – Islamabad – has lead the country into tensions. The continuous and growing clashes between current government of Pakistan and Imran Khan also put a lot of pressure on government and on people about the future of the country. It is still vague that whether current government will move country toward progress or political storm will continue to hit its peaks.
Elections are Urgently Needed
In the not too distant future, elections will need to be called for. This gives rise to the question of whether or not this will bring an end to the ongoing political crisis and pave the way for the stability that is so desperately need. Undoubtedly, the path that lies in front of us is a difficult one. It won’t be easy to reach a consensus on the rules of the election or on a code of behaviour for participants. Already a disturbing hint of what is to come is the PTI’s demand to replace the chief election commissioner, who now holds a role that is guaranteed by the constitution. It is difficult to foresee how a consensus can be reached on the political ground rules in an atmosphere that is highly polarised and where emotions are running high. Will each participant in the competition believe that the playing field will be fair for them?
When looking further into the future, there are additional elements that are more appealing to examine. Will the results of the election be recognised by each and every political actor? And supposing, which is a very huge assumption, that they reluctantly do, what would occur after what is likely to be a harsh and bruising political battle? Because the political rhetoric of the major parties does not hold out the hope of stable governance in which a minimal working relationship is created between political enemies, this is an important subject. However, the nature of election results in the past, the variety of the country, and the federal nature of the polity ought to give our political leaders and their followers reason to pause and think about what they are doing. Because of this, it is necessary to take a strategy that involves managing the democratic system and operating the country on the basis of political accommodation, compromise, and tolerance of those who are different.
Results from Past Elections
When we consider the results of elections held over the past two decades, we see two important trends. The first reason is that no party has been able to gain an overall legislative majority, and the second reason is that the outcome is highly regionalized. No single political party has secured an absolute majority in any of the elections held since 2002, including 2018, 2013, and 2008. The victorious party was need to piece together various alliances in order to create the government. Therefore, a divided vote and hung parliaments have been the norm rather than the exception in recent history.
Also Read: Approval of Two Bills by Senate – Latest News Update
The scale of the popular vote for the party that emerged victorious in these elections is another factor that bears consideration in relation to the case for consensual governance. When attempting to determine a party’s true electoral support, it is more helpful to go beyond the distribution of seats. During the election in 2018, the PTI received somewhere around 31% of the popular vote. In 2013, the PML-N received 32% of the votes that were cast. In 2008, PPP was able to secure 31%. In 2002, PML-Q received 23 percent of the vote. This demonstrates that in Pakistan’s first-past-the-post system, the party that has been able to emerge as the single largest and win enough seats to form a government with allies has done so with less than a third of the popular vote. This is due to the fact that Pakistan uses a proportional representation voting system. This is a percentage of the votes that were cast, not the total number of people who were entitled to vote. Participation in these elections has ranged from 53 percent in 2013 to 51 percent in 2018 to 44 percent in 2008 to 41 percent in 2018. (2002). Given the size of the electorate that does not participate in voting, it is clear that major political territory is not being claimed by any party. The significance of this cannot be overstated when considering the winner’s mandate.
Regionalization of the Results of Elections
The other distinguishing characteristic of elections held after 2002 is the regionalization of the results, which resulted in different provinces having governments with distinctively diverse political ideologies. In 2018, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was elected to form the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), while the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was victorious in Sindh. In Punjab, seats were split between the PTI and the PML-N, but the former secured control of the province with the assistance of allies In 2013, the PML-N held power in the centre and in the province of Punjab, while the PTI established the government in the province of KP and the PPP held power in the province of Sindh. The PPP was victorious in the national election that took place in 2008; however, different parties were victorious in each of the four province elections; PML-N in Punjab, ANP in KP, PPP in Sindh, and a PML-Q-led alliance in Balochistan.
Current Government is going to End
What exactly does all of this signify? What kind of lessons does this have for the future of the country after the election? To begin, there is scant evidence to suggest that the era of coalition governments that has dominated Pakistan is going to come to an end. If the next election follows the same pattern as previous ones, then it is likely that the party that wins will only receive a minority of the votes cast by the general public. This is the case regardless of which party ultimately triumphs. The idea that the party that wins an election is the “sole representation” of the people and that no one else may speak for the nation as a whole needs to be abandoned as a result. It needs to be replaced by an acknowledgement that its mandate is qualified, since other parties also have significant electoral support and need to be accommodated and included in the workings of the political system. This is because it is necessary for the system to work. Additionally, it implies that the party in power ought to exhibit modesty in both its aspirations and its behaviour. It is a fallacy to believe that it is capable of “absolute” authority and governing by itself all by itself. A “winner-takes-all” attitude results in governance that is intrinsically unstable and exclusive. This is because the support base for such an attitude is less than a third of the popular vote.
Also Read: Price Hikes in Petrol and Electricity – Latest News Update
Not only is it necessary for the central government to accept opposition-led province governments, but it is also necessary for the central government to cooperate with these governments for the sake of the general public. This is because the country is organised as a federal system. The outcome of the next election will very certainly be determined by geographic region as well. As a result, it is necessary to adopt a method that is based on consensus in order to establish stable and mutually beneficial center-province ties that break with the demoralising history of tensions within the federation.
Conclusion
The precarious status of the economy is the most compelling reason for political adversaries to collaborate on a minimal common platform. In large part, governments have been hesitant to take difficult decisions in order to address the structural weaknesses of the economy. This is due to the fear of political repercussions, as well as the fear that opposition parties will exploit this fear in order to orchestrate public backlash and provoke discontent. In today’s world, an economy that is once again in the critical ward makes it absolutely necessary for political leaders to reach an agreement after the election on corrective policy moves that can heal it. Everyone involved in politics have to give the economic destiny of the country at least as much consideration as their own partisan interests. Everything else will be for naught if we cannot maintain economic stability. If the nation’s politics and economy continue to come into conflict with one another, the future of the country will be anything but promising.
