Do we elect venal politicians again?

What will the future hold for 2018’s voters?

“Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well, by that compressive definition, the people of Pakistan are both gullible and insane.”

 The government’s term will come to an end in June 2018 and elections will be held after ninety days of the caretaker government. These upcoming elections are not just about filling the seats in the Parliament House; it also covers a wide range of important areas of county. As a result, to put it simply, every elected member will impact society for good or for bad. General Elections of 2018 in Pakistan are – at all levels – about the future of all citizens of the country.  And it’s a future in the hands of the people.

Voters will decide the result and will have to live with it until the next election comes around.  In many ways, we as voters expect a lot from corrupt politicians and yet can’t be bothered to learn from experience. Political parties repeat the same empty promises election after election. Lessons are to be learned from history. Voters should know candidate’s ideology, party manifesto and politician’s credibility.

Would you vote for a politician that had been caught up in bribery and corruption scandals? It appears the either our voters do not know about the aforementioned corrupt conduct and therefore “accidentally” support dishonest and corrupt politicians, or they consciously support dishonest political leaders because of his/her believed expertise in other areas.

Every election in Pakistan is about two challenging philosophies based upon truth or lies.

Pakistan has had a long history of unsuccessful democratic transitions. During the old days, people were kept backward, uneducated and economically dependent so as to continue its influence without facing any accountability. The influence of the corrupt politicians in the government machinery has to be fully stopped.

Secondly, if voters hate corruption in all departments, why does it exist amongst private and public sector and why don’t citizens simply vote rotten politicians out of office?

Regrettably, the business of the politician is to sell lies that simply help their self-interests of the monetary gain, and nothing else more. Law enforcing agencies role is to monitor criminal activities, fighting against corruption, to investigate crimes and to respond emergency situation but unfortunately are themselves afflicted with dishonesty and corruption to the core.

Every political leader knows that the key to winning elections is to make great promises. Voter should be careful with speeches as all sweet talk of the candidates and don’t expect much of what’s said to happen.

An overwhelming majority of voters continues to believe that they have the option to choose candidate when it comes to voting, unaware that their choice is deeply influenced by fake promises and crap future manifestos. The influential politicians in Pakistan have the power to influence the opinions of the crowds through carefully organised propaganda by cunningly utilising the mass media.

Pakistan has diverse political landscape; many experts believe that PTI looks strong in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Punjab has always remained a voting hub for PML-N, PPP’s dominates rural Sindh and MQM in urban Sindh.

However, the new generation have to be made aware of their rights, power of vote and have to come forward to play their due role. Pakistan’s new generation is much more aware and will thus, hopefully not accept uneducated politicians, who remain shamelessly involved in corruption, financial embezzlements and empty promises.

Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well, by that compressive definition, the people of Pakistan are gullible and insane – because we re-trust and re-elect the same faces over and over again and expect that this time it will be different.

Most of the political experts believe that fresh and independent faces must be given an opportunity to change the political landscape of the country. Unfortunately our politicians have attained the highest level of human greed, and the sole motive why they pursue a political career is to sate their thirst for power, authority and money. Most politicians lied to their voters in order to gain power and money and they will keep on lying to their voters to remain in power

Pakistan’s new generation of voters see political leaders in a more critical light and do not trust venal politicians anymore. The question remains though, with the options before them, who will they vote for?