IT’S here, the day many thought would somehow not arrive: election day — the vital step in the first civilian-led transition between elected governments in a long time, an achievement that for years seemed out of reach of this country’s seesaw politics. What has brought the country to this point is the emerging maturity of the political class, and the restraint of other institutions, particularly the army and the superior judiciary. In the main, the political class keeping their eye on the overall objective — sustaining the democratic project — instead of pursuing parochial, short-term goals has been buttressed by an electorate that while angered by incumbents, was determined to continue with the democratic process. The always-waiting-in-the-shadows anti-democratic forces have not been invoked as in the past.

Now that the election is here, however, sight must not be lost of the challenges that confront the country. The campaign season that concluded on Thursday underlined both the major threat and a major deficiency. The threat is from militant and extremist forces who have already distorted the election result by blighting the campaigns of parties that play up their liberal credentials — the PPP, ANP and MQM. If those parties do suffer reversals at the polls today, it will be impossible to know if that is because of voter unhappiness or fear. Either way, the voters’ will has already been thwarted to a significant and unacceptable level.

Unhappily, little has been said during the campaign — both by those campaigning on the streets and those reduced to campaigning via the media — to suggest that Pakistan is any closer to understanding, accepting and responding to the challenge of militancy. That it fell to the army chief to make the most categorical statement in the past weeks about what is at stake and who the enemy is, is a telling sign of political indecision and weakness. Whatever the configuration of parliament that will emerge from today’s vote, the central challenge will remain what it has been for the past five years: developing a robust and full-spectrum response to militancy.

The main deficiency has been the absence of a coherent understanding of the country’s economic base and how to propel it forward confidently and sustainably. Policy papers aside, few parties cared to be honest about the tough choices and many sacrifices that will have to be made to get the government’s finances in order and to turn a rent-seeking economic system into something more competitive and capable of producing growth that can absorb the millions pouring into an already vastly underutilised employment base. Given the choice between winning votes and telling hard truths, most politicians would choose the former. It is to this country’s enduring misfortune that economically responsible and truth-telling politicians have yet to emerge who can prepare the public for the realities that lie ahead.

Still, flawed and indifferent to fundamental problems as the campaign season has been, it has also seen energy and enthusiasm on a riveting scale. The tussle between the PML-N and PTI in Punjab has animated politics in a way that can only be good for an electorate that has historically largely shunned elections. Voter enthusiasm for the democratic process can be the first step towards a better polity, where both parties and voters challenge each other to produce better outcomes for the country. It’s too late for this election but perhaps what the parties need to focus on going forward are the dangers of a regionalised electorate in a country where centrifugal forces are many. Energised and invigorated as parts of the electorate are because of the PTI and PML-N it is telling that even now a hung parliament is widely expected, meaning reforms and hard decisions may be more difficult than ever to push through. But for today at least, such matters can be set aside. Let the country celebrate the power of the vote once again.