Delayed election concerns

Published December 14, 2017

DO parliamentary parties want a general election next August or are they willing to contemplate an electoral delay that potentially undermines the democratic process? The mysterious wrangling over a delimitation bill in parliament — necessary to reflect the results of the latest census and a precondition for the ECP to begin the months-long task of preparing up-to-date electoral rolls — is still threatening to prevent an on-time general election taking place next August and the politics of it is increasingly confounding. The PML-N government has repeatedly stressed that it intends to complete its term, indicating its preference for a general election next August. There could be a constitutional possibility of an election next September if the PML-N dissolved the National Assembly even a day before it completes its term, though that may not be the right precedent to set. But an August election is perilously close to becoming administratively impossible or democratically undesirable, if it means continuing with constituency delimitations according to the 1998 census.

The dispute ostensibly is inter-provincial and intra-province. Representatives of Sindh have argued that the census results deliberately suppressed the overall population figures for the province, while the perennial urban-rural divide in the province has been exacerbated by population growth numbers for Karachi that appear to fly in the face of visible reality. While some of the concerns expressed may be legitimate and the Council of Common Interests has tried to address the problem, it appears the parliamentary delay is tied to other matters of politics in the country. With the PML-N government under pressure on a number of fronts, a delay in elections may harm the party the most. Perhaps, then, there is cynical political bargaining at work. But the PML-N government has not acquitted itself well thus far either. Poor parliamentary management and sloppy negotiations by the government appear to have brought the country to the brink of a fresh crisis.

The political parties involved in the extreme brinkmanship ought to consider that if the delimitation issue is not addressed immediately, other institutions of state may step in and take control of matters. After all, the latest census only became a reality because the Supreme Court passed an order and energetically followed up on it. If the delimitation issue and the timing of the general election are also decided in forums other than parliament and by institutions that are designed to be apolitical, the democratic process may suffer a further blow. The tardiness of the PML-N government and the willingness of other parties to delay parliamentary approval are sending the wrong signal at a time when the democratic process needs a boost and clear leadership by the political class. Parliament has handled more complicated legislation and political deal-making than what a delimitation bill should require. There is no justification for the inordinate delay. Parliament must pass the delimitation bill quickly.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2017

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...