As Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri continue to play to the crowds and government spokespersons continue to posture before the media, the contours of a possible exit strategy from the national political impasse are starting to take shape.

In essence, squaring the difference between the PTI’s six-point charter of demands and the PML-N government’s refusal to countenance the demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while still insisting on a high-powered judicial commission to investigate PTI claims of fraud in the May 2013 general election, a middle ground may be opening up.

This could see the judicial commission completing its task as quickly but in as wide-ranging a manner as possible and make the possibility of the prime minister’s resignation and even fresh elections contingent on the findings of the judicial commission.

What that would allow is for the protesters to leave their sit-in site outside parliament without their central demand being rejected altogether while it would put the allegations of electoral fraud in independent hands for investigation so that a final verdict on last year’s election is issued by someone other than the government.

If that sounds like a sensible climbdown for both sides, it is also heartening to note that potential interlocutors between the PML-N and PTI also swung into action yesterday.

Former president and still PPP supremo Asif Zardari’s day trip to Raiwind and Mansoora gave both the PML-N leadership an opportunity to elucidate the grounds for a negotiated settlement further and allowed the PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami leadership to consult on how to bridge the gap between the PTI and PML-N positions.

Whether the hectic, all-day diplomacy will produce quick results is difficult to know, but it was a good sign for democracy that mainstream electoral forces were demonstrating both their keenness to resolve the impasse and their commitment to the democratic project.

As much as the PTI would like to downplay the idea of a high-powered judicial commission investigating the charges of electoral fraud, it remains the single most sensible and democracy-enhancing of possibilities mooted so far.

Given a strong enough mandate and allowing all stakeholders to depose before it, a judicial commission would be able to both establish irregularities at the micro level as well as to suggest macro improvements to the democratic process.

Also, the government should publicly and firmly commit via parliament to a speedy electoral reforms process so that if constitutionally permissible snap polls are to be held, they would occur under a much improved system rather than one that allows defeated candidates to forever deny the authenticity of their defeat.

A clear set of proposals with specific timelines and divided into specific short-, medium- and long-term goals is a good way to prepare the country for the next round of elections. Surely, working on a stronger electoral system now can only strengthen the democratic system over time.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2014