A week from elections, the mood in Pakistan seems sombre. Call it what you want, the elections are not whipping up the kind of excitement they did in 2013 or 2008.

This time around there are accusations, resentment and disdain for the whole process.

In such circumstances, one is faced with questions like, is this whole thing worth it? Why are we even doing this again if the same set of people will get elected again on different party platforms? What is the point of this? Why should I even vote?

To the last question, Sarah Khan makes a compelling argument about voting in her recent piece for Dawn.com.

For the rest of the questions and general disillusionment with democracy, analyst Adnan Rasool puts forward a case for proportional representation:

The most significant advantage we can reap from the system of proportional representation would be getting rid of electables.

Because there is no longer constituency politics for the national level and there are not even the limited development funds at play anymore, political parties can talk policy and long-term planning to the electorate and put forth genuine experts and newer faces without the fear of being beaten out by electables.

Read the rest here.