With only a year and a half left for the present government to complete its five year tenure, Jamaat-e-Islami has issued a call for snap polls. One can understand a demand of the sort in a situation where the government has become dysfunctional or lost a majority in the National Assembly which is by no means the case. Quite contrary, after the inclusion of the PML(Q) and the return of the MQM to the fold, the ruling coalition commands an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly and a safe majority in the Senate. The criticism of the government’s performance on the floor of the house by Senator Khurshid Ahmed notwithstanding, there is little sense in putting up the demand. Of course there is an energy shortage in the country, and the economy continues to be in bad shape leading to an increase in poverty. While the opposition needs to put the government on the mat for the shortcomings, impatient demands for fresh polls needs to be curbed. Democracy can flourish only if elected governments are allowed to complete their tenures.
It was all the more surprising to find Sen Ishaq Dar, whose party is a signatory to the CoD, endorsing the views of Sen Khursheed Ahmad. The document clearly requires the signatories not to bypass the people’s mandate. In Section 21 of the CoD, the PPP and PML(N) voluntarily agreed to “respect the electoral mandate of representative governments that accept the due role of the opposition and declare neither shall undermine each other through extra-constitutional ways.” There is a perception that, fearful of the PPP getting majority in the Senate in days to come, some of the parties are keen to agitate for fresh polls.
Democracy requires institution building. This cannot happen if governments are changed before completing their mandated tenures. As things stand, the opposition is not in a position to remove the government through a no-confidence vote. The only way at its disposal is to attempt to remove it through street agitation i.e. through extra-constitutional means. This is a hazardous option which could derail the system. The opposition needs to show patience, which is a part of the democratic culture, by waiting for another year and a half and try its luck in the next election due in 2013.