THERE will be no mid-term elections Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decreed, and his words ought to be taken seriously given that the only constitutional path to mid-term polls lies in Mr Sharif’s agreeing to dissolve the National Assembly.

For now, much of the threat posed by the anti-government tandem of Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri has obviously dissipated.

Notwithstanding what Mr Khan may be claiming in his frequent rallies in the run-up to Nov 30, the Islamabad rally is unlikely to produce the kind of political pressure that can cause a government to fold — barring, of course, a dangerous gamble by the PTI leadership and the outbreak of violence in the heart of the federal capital, as happened on Aug 30 and Sept 1.

Also read:Nawaz dismisses elections before 2018

So the prime minister may well be justified in his confidence, though that does not quite answer the question why the government has been unable to truly hit the reset button and start anew on its governance programme, while also taking the steps necessary to address the legitimate demands of the anti-government protesters.

Unhappily, given other comments by senior government officials in recent days, the PML-N leadership seems unable to, or perhaps is unwilling to, move on from the crisis in the summer.

It could be that as long as Imran Khan remains motivated to continue his protests, the PML-N will continue to see the hand of conspiracy in the shadows — thereby remaining distracted and unable to focus on moving the country forward.

Ultimately though, conspiracy or no conspiracy, there is little the PML-N can do to directly shape the trajectory of the anti-government protests — all it can, and should, do is focus on improving its own record in office, thereby solidifying the democratic project and dissipating pressure for mid-term elections.

But even electoral reforms are in the doldrums and a special investigation into specific allegations of electoral malpractices in the May 2013 poll appears more unlikely than ever.

It is almost as though the government would like to force the PTI into complete surrender rather than accept that the PTI raised a number of legitimate concerns and several of the party’s demands would only strengthen the overall democratic process in the country.

Perhaps what Mr Sharif needs to focus on are his own words, “They [the people] will have a chance to vote in or vote out any party” in 2018.

Yet, incrementally more credible and acceptable as the 2008 and 2013 polls were, no honest assessment of elections in Pakistan would suggest that the barriers to becoming a people’s representative are reasonable or that the casting and counting of votes is a process free of flaws.

The country’s democrats need to create a better democracy if it is to prove sustainable.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2014