Why the opposition is shy of fresh local government polls

Regardless of the white noise surrounding transparency, local government (LG) polls in the troubled province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), most pundits agree, marks a significant step forward solidifying Project Democracy. Governed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) currently, facing the brunt of a united opposition over the fairness of its conduct, the province has been a flashpoint of the ongoing military campaign against terrorism and extremism.

The sheer scale of the numbers involving candidates, deployment of law enforcement agencies and the whole gamut of electioneering exercise evoked fears in the lead-up about how it would pan out. There were more than a dozen casualties to be sure, but while these were regrettable, the fatalities were largely related to poll violence.

In the not-so-distant past, militants had wreaked havoc with a spate of suicide bombings and killings to stop secular parties like the Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from campaigning, leading to their dismal showing at the 2013 general elections. Even though the two parties in government fared poorly going into the polls, the fact that they could not put up a robust campaign did hurt their fortunes substantially. However, while the PPP continues its rapid decline as a political force of national significance, the ANP has regained weight with a showing second only to the PTI.

But almost the entire opposition — as well as local level leaders of even its alliance partner Jamaat-e-Islami — have accused the PTI of manipulating the polls and demanded the provincial government’s resignation. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has even ordered re-polling in some polling stations following complaints of wrongdoing. In one highly publicised case, Ali Amin Gundapur, the burly revenue minister from the ruling PTI, was forced to surrender to the police after it registered a case against him for taking away ballot boxes and manhandling a senior cop at a polling station. Gundapur was however, released after he claimed he did not pick up the boxes to stuff it but was, in fact, stopping a rival candidate’s henchman from rigging.

The PTI denies claims of rigging and blames the ECP for failing in its duty to conduct an orderly poll. In a rare rejoinder, the ECP maintained that ensuring law and order was the provincial government’s responsibility and also debunked what it called a “misconception” that it was somehow responsible for holding the entire polls in a single day. The ECP also claimed that given the security requirement in which a large number of polling staff was involved, it had advised the provincial government to hold the elections in phases. Intriguingly, Imran Khan, the PTI chairman, also uses the same ruse in his defence: that the ECP should have conducted polls in phases if it could not have handled it!

Tens of thousands of candidates were in the fray for 43,000 seats spread across cities and villages in 11,200 polling stations. Considering the numbers, and intelligence reports of possible attacks, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police, in fact, did a commendable job without any outside reinforcement.

Missed in the commotion raised by the opposition over the conduct of the polls leading to a familiar three-way blame game amongst the government, opposition and the ECP was the lack of awareness surrounding new balloting procedures that left the voters high and dry in many constituencies. Clearly, not enough homework was done to wisen them up. But in a daring gambit, Imran Khan has offered the opposition fresh polls, with the willingness of the ECP. Interestingly, as some opposition parties welcomed the move initially, second thoughts also surfaced just as quickly.

While Khan predicts that his party would win even better in a more organised poll, the detractors aren’t exactly feverish about starting from scratch for two reasons; one, they are reluctant to compromise the gains they have made, and; two, the consequences of such actions elsewhere.

The overriding fear for the opposition’s lack of heart is that it would strengthen Khan’s longstanding demands for fresh elections nationally — an issue over which he has raised such a resonant pitch and agitated so successfully that it forced the Nawaz Sharif government at the Centre to set up a judicial commission headed by the country’s chief justice to probe similar charges of widespread rigging. The verdict, which may make or break Khan politically, is due out soon. The likelihood therefore, is that while the opposition will continue to remain vocal about the alleged rigging in KhyberPakhtunkhwa’s LG polls, it may stop short of committing to a full re-run.

The irony is that while these opposition parties have raised a ruckus over the conduct of KhyberPakhtunkhwa polls, two of these — the PPP, which rules Sindh, and Sharif’s PML-N, which rules Punjab — are themselves reluctant to hold LG polls in their provinces, being loathe to the idea of transferring power to the grassroots. The author is a senior journalist based in Islamabad. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely his and not of Times of Oman.