Political pundits are seldom right, but they are right about a lack of excitement this election season. Several factors could be at work. One is the political fatigue of a permanent political campaign that has been waged since after the 2013 elections were called into question. Two is the alleged political engineering that is at work, sending a chill down the political system. And three, political leaders aren’t trying harder to woo the electorate.
Even the release of three opinion polls last week couldn’t last more than a few days in the public imagination. The findings, prone to methodology limitations, were pretty much in line with the dominant narrative in vogue since last year: the PML-N losing ground to the PTI but still pulling ahead in the battleground of Punjab. As expected, one party lapped up those surveys even as the other dismissed them as partisan.
The PML-N, whose Nawaz Sharif has been missing from the scene lately, has in Shahbaz Sharif someone who maybe a good administrator but is unable to excite the party base. Can the jail punishment awarded to the elder Sharif last Friday bring some life into a listless campaign? But the house remains divided, as Shahbaz still seems unwilling to cash-out the victim-card which Nawaz has been selling for about a year.
As for the PPP, its young leader, in his maiden campaign, doesn’t seem to inspire while campaigning in the party’s heartland, Sindh. There are question marks over whether BB’s party can hold its political base there. And the PTI, well, it seems content now that the coveted “electable” folk have landed in the bag at the right moment. The party’s base may not like the turn towards status-quo politicos, though.
There are suspicions among independent observers that attempts are in full swing to sway the voting that is to take place July 25. The urgency to jail Nawaz, a three-time former PM, so close to the elections also fuels those suspicions, as does the mood suddenly souring on Zardari and Co.
But to suggest that results of upcoming polls are already scripted would be a disservice to the cause of developing real democracy. For one, a large number of young voters are set to take part of voting exercise, some for the first time in their lives. An impression among the youth that its vote doesn’t matter would be a dangerous thing. And two, past experience has shown that the electorate is quite capable to come out and vote their minds, defying the exercise in smoke and mirrors being played on TV channels.
In the interest of political enfranchisement, the need is to somehow improve engagement with voters in the next two weeks and increase voter turnout on the polling day. Despite repeated setbacks, the PML-N has taken the right decision by rejecting the calls to boycott the elections. Let’s see whose political narrative comes on top. For that, the concerned authorities must let the collective wisdom prevail.
