Still some way to go
It took a long while, but finally the local body poll has come to Punjab and Sindh. And for one with so long in the making, perhaps the security arrangement, at least, could have been slightly better. The numerous deficiencies of the election commission, and returning officers, etc, will clearly take far longer to iron out. But that the poll went ahead after so many stops and starts is a welcome enough sign. With so many political struggles and fights for democracy constantly unfolding, ordinary Pakistanis had forgotten the taste and meaning of grassroot governance.
The most immediate lesson of the LG poll was, understandably, blurring of party lines. The incumbency factor is a great advantage, naturally, but tribe, clan and bradari issues tend to dominate the grassroot. That is one factor behind the surprising score of independent candidates. Another, of course, would be political parties losing value in the eyes of voters because of their lacklustre performance all around. But now as the second phase approaches, this aspect would have been factored in, and new parties like PTI will do a more realistic damage assessment of their methodology.
For the moment, though, PML-N is going strong. It seems to have developed a knack of consolidating its overall position. The party might be more broken down internally than PTI or PPP – as was evident by vicious infighting not only on the LG stage, but also from news of numerous strained relations between senior cabinet ministers. Going ahead, though, it will have to start working as a more orderly unit. Opposition parties, particularly PTI, are still not convinced of the ruling party’s legitimacy, and will give it a good fight all the way to the next election. Governance, therefore, will be key as the last leg of the present political cycle gets underway. Holding elections, however important, is only one part of the democratic process, after all. A far more crucial aspect is delivering to the people. And the N-league might hold better campaigns than other parties, but its position on governance is hardly any better.