GIVEN the complexity and sprawl of the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday, few expected that this first-time exercise under the new LG system would be entirely trouble-free.

But surely no one expected that the ECP and the provincial government would let down the voter to the extent they did on Saturday, with many observers already labelling the election one of the worst administered and most shambolic in the province’s history.

Also read: Six people killed in clashes during Khyber Pakhtunkhwa LG polls

The Free and Fair Election Network, an independent election-monitoring body, has issued its preliminary assessment and this is the verdict: “The election was competitive, election campaign relatively peaceful but culminating in an Election Day that was marred by administrative mismanagement, extremely slow processing of voters, procedural irregularities and confusions, obstacles for women voters and widespread incidents of violence.”

So what went wrong? It appears that neither was the ECP prepared for the exercise nor was the provincial government ready to accept responsibility for creating voter awareness about the new system and how to navigate a complex balloting process.

Worse yet, neither the ECP nor the provincial government appear willing to reflect on their roles in the debacle. Yesterday, PTI supremo Imran Khan pointedly claimed that administrative and police powers had been transferred to the ECP on polling day and sought to deflect all blame from the provincial government.

Meanwhile, the ECP issued an early declaration on Saturday that was striking in its defiance: “ECP expresses its satisfaction at the end of the polls for local bodies election in KPK province.”

If voters, the public, media, candidates and the political parties are all crying foul, surely the ECP should be focusing on the complaints instead of patting itself on the back. With Punjab and Sindh yet to hold LG elections, the ECP needs to urgently review what went wrong in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and prepare for the future.

As for the LG system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa itself, the focus will soon switch to delivery — and whether the provincial authorities will seek to cooperate with or undermine the LG system.

What the rules of business are to be will determine how effectively the three-tier village/neighbourhood, tehsil and district council system will work. Moreover, with each of these three tiers elected separately, will the demands and suggestions of village/neighbourhood councils truly be heard at the tehsil and district level?

Then there is the question of overlapping powers and funding. Will the provincial set-up really release the full percentage of development funds to the local bodies that the LG law requires them to do?

And how will provincial politicians respond to a new system that seeks to usurp much of their traditional role in patronage politics? There are many unanswered questions.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2015

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